Precipitant Reunion
by MayFairy
Summary: The Doctor has just activated the Moment and regenerated, only to land on Earth. But against all rules of the universe, somehow an old friend is returned to him, much earlier than she should have been. And with the Time Lords, Gallifrey, and all of its rules gone, suddenly there aren't many reasons to be apart. AU to Halfway Out of the Dark Universe. 9/OC, can be standalone.
1. An End and a Beginning

**Set very very soon after the end of Day of the Doctor for the War Doctor/Nine. **

**Pre-Series 1.**

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><p>The night was a cold one, with bitter wind that bit any part of skin it could find on any unlucky person who had bared any.<p>

Amongst the howling of the elements, the wheezing sound could barely be heard as a battered blue police box came spinning out of the sky and hit the ground with a crash. The door creaked as it opened, and a man stumbled out, wearing Victorian clothes that did not fit him.

A passing old man was watching from nearby, growing more confused by the second. He was even more baffled when the strange man approached him, still having trouble standing straight.

The strange man grabbed the elder by the shoulders firmly, pure anguish and loss in his eyes. The old man was shocked from the mere sight of it, and knew that the level of pain and emptiness he saw in those blue eyes would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life. He barely noticed when the man began to speak, a Northern accent coming through.

"They're all gone, I'm the only one left," He whispered, choking on his own words. No tears were present on his face but his expression looked as though he should have them. He then stumbled away, going back to near the blue box he had emerged from, leaving the old man bewildered.

The man with short dark hair and big ears sank to the ground, strange broken noises coming out of his mouth while his body convulsed slightly. The old man could do nothing but stare and wonder if he should call for some kind of professional help.

The Doctor resisted the urge to scream at the top of his lungs. The complete silence in his head was killing him, slowly but surely.

They were all gone…

The thought could not fit inside his head properly. It simply did its best to squeeze in, and when it did not fit, it pressed on the sides of his mind, and dug in painfully. Romanadvoratrelundar, and her cousin, whose name he couldn't bring himself to even think of, the Corsair, Braxiatel, Susan, Drax, and so many others. All of them, gone.

A sharp, technological noise rang through the air, and he jerked his head towards it. At the top of the slanted road in front of him, there now stood a figure, clutching a Vortex Manipulator in her hands while her legs trembled.

She wore no clothes, only a few tattered unidentifiable rags of what could only have once been clothing of some kind, and they were so ruined that they covered nothing, and fell off her with each movement she made.

He looked closer, and their eyes met. She opened her mouth multiple times, as if she were trying to say something. When nothing came out she began to run towards him in a wobbly manner and zigzagged path. He stood up and took of his coat. The moment she got close, he wrapped the coat around her small form. She shoved her arms through and did it up properly. Luckily the coat was long, and she was small.

Now in his waistcoat, scarf, shirt, aged trousers and bandolier, he stared at the new arrival, pain still etched onto his face, while shock and scrambled emotions dominated hers.

"Theta?" She whispered, staring up at him slowly, her brow furrowed. He had not been able to see it before, but her eyes were intelligent, far too intelligent, and so _wonderfully _familiar.

"Ali?" He barely managed to get the word out, his throat was so constricted.

It wasn't possible…they were all dead, he had seen it! He had felt it. And yet…

And aside from that, she was long dead. She hadn't even survived the first day of the war, because - as Romana had explained - she had stupidly gone off by herself for an unknown reason. From his point of view, he had not seen her for decades, decades of hell as he knew it and continuous death caused by the endless war.

Aliyanadevoralundar, the one who had always caused him the most pain.

Or Aliya, for the sake of common sense.

Tears of something – sadness, joy, shock? He could not tell - welled up in her eyes. A strange sort of hysterical laugh escaped her lips as she nodded frantically.

"How are you here? How can you be here?"

"I…I don't know," She stammered, "I was given the manipulator and I just…was here. But it was dark, so dark…but it's so quiet, I can't hear anything...why can't I hear anything? What happened?"

He didn't answer.

"What happened?" She demanded, clutching at her head and yelling. "Why is my head empty? What happened in the war?"

"Everyone lost," He said, staring at her, "I'm sorry, Aliya, but...they're all dead. Gallifrey's gone." It wasn't as difficult to say outloud as he had expected. Perhaps because by telling someone else who understand, he could be blamed, and incriminated, just like he deserved. And even though the words were impossible, he could see that she knew that he told the truth, that the silence in her head was proof enough.

"How?"

That he really couldn't answer, but when he was silent, she just began to sob and scream, pulling at her hair and letting the tears stream down her face.

His arms wrapped around her, holding her as tightly as he could for fear she would disappear and only turn out to be a figment of his imagination. She squeezed back, leaning her head again his chest as her tears soaked it. After some time, they pulled away. She ducked her head forward, and her long, knotted to the point of almost dreaded, brown hair swung forward into her face.

The Doctor pushed it back behind her ear. Their eyes met again, both dull from the emptiness inside both of them, but a spark remained, a spark created from the other's presence.

He grabbed the lapels of her jacket – his jacket?- and kissed her fiercely.

She stood on her tiptoes – _why was this body so small? – _and wound her arms around his neck as best she could despite the height difference.

Like so many times before, the kiss was desperate, fierce, and spurred on by the loss they had both suffered. Their lips were locked in a terrifying dance with no intention of separating for the next century, and in all fairness, they had no reason to.

"Let go of her! You sir, should be ashamed of yourself! Taking advantage of a young girl like that!" They jumped apart, staring at the speaker, whom the Doctor vaguely recognised as someone he had talked to before Aliya had turned up.

"Young girl?" Aliya asked indignantly in a hushed tone.

He studied her more closely and frowned. "You only look about sixteen by their standards. And I physically look much older. For them, what we just did is a crime."

"So I'm a child. For Rassilon's sake, that's ridiculous."

"Yep. For them, such physical age gaps are disgusting," The Doctor admitted.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't care what they think! Stop focusing on that and focus on kissing me instead." She brought their lips back together, and he did as she commanded.

"Stop it! I'll call the police, don't think I won't!" The old man said again.

The Doctor and Aliya pulled apart, and he leant his forehead down against hers.

"Do you want to go now?" He asked her. She nodded, ignoring the slight pain in her stomach. His hand delicately ran down her arm, and he folded his fingers around hers.

They entered the TARDIS hand in hand, ignoring the dagger glare of the old man on their backs. His TARDIS looked strange to her, but familiar to him.

She noted the damage and debris. "What happened? Did this…happen in the Time War?" She bit her lip.

He frowned. "It will need to rebuild. We'll find some clothes and then land somewhere peaceful. I think it can make one more trip. Come on, the wardrobe is this way." He began to pull her but she jerked her hand out. She bent over as pain struck her violently in her midsection like someone was squeezing the life out of her insides.

She cringed. "Just when I was starting to get the idea of being this small in my head." She sighed.

The Doctor watched her in surprise. "I thought you had regenerated recently."

"It's a long story, and one I don't have time to explain." She gasped, and grimaced. "See you on the other side, Theta."

Her body began to glow, with the golden light appearing to emit from inside her skin itself. It grew until it burst, the pillars of energy soaring through the already wrecked console room and bringing more wreckage down. The Doctor had to jump around to avoid it while trying to also keep an eye on his friend.

Her screams echoed through the TARDIS, and his hearts and mind. Eventually they faded along with the light, and the woman standing where the girl had been murmured one word.

"Doctor…" She had barely gotten it out before she collapsed to the floor almost immediately. By the time the Doctor was able to reach her, she was completely unconscious. He scooped the woman who was now almost a stranger in his arms and began to make his way through the half-collapsed corridors in search of the wardrobe.

What didn't help was that the new regeneration of his friend was taller than the body that had just died before him. She was also heavier. He shifted his hands where they were holding her and did his best not to pull on her newly blonde hair in any way that might be painful. He was slightly thankful it was shorter than it had been previously, meaning there was less of it to get in the way.

The wardrobe room was still mostly intact to his relief, and he gently lay Aliya down on the floor. He tried not to be distracted by the fact that now that her body was somewhat longer, his old coat hid less of her body. He shook his head quickly and began shifting through the large assortment of racks for clothes for himself, and his unconscious companion.

So many clothes were selected, held up, and then discarded onto the floor, that the Doctor was becoming irritable. Finally, he saw a glimpse of leather poking out from between a woollen pink jumper and a pair of slacks. Ignoring his initial sceptical instinct, he pulled it out regardless and held it up against himself, inspecting the overall look in the mirror. Nodding to himself, he selected a dark green jumper to go underneath and some dark trousers before getting changed.

All in all, he looked rather as though he would blend into the background a little. He didn't want or need the attention of all the humans.

Of course, now the more difficult problem of choosing clothes for Aliya came to prominence. As she had yet to be conscious in her new body, he had no idea what clothes she liked. He had thought she often liked the long Gallifreyan dresses, but they were all gone now. The thought of anything to do with his home caused another painful stab of loss and guilt to hit him yet again.

Eventually he opted for two different choices, and he hoped one of them would work.

The first was a white garment he had taken from Ancient Greece a couple of centuries back, and was very similar to the togas that many wore there except for the fact that it strapless. It was quite long, therefore good insurance as it was hard to tell how tall she was yet.

The other was in case she was not a fan of such feminine clothing. He picked out a pair of late twentieth century denim overalls.

He draped the two pieces of clothing under his arm before grabbing a large, warm blanket which he proceeded to wrap around Aliya to preserve her dignity and body warmth. Carrying her out of the wardrobe room, he began to weave his way back towards the console room. The TARDIS needed to rebuild, and there was no place more restful for three worn out Gallifreyans than the Eye of Orion. Placing Aliya on the ground of the console room, he put in the coordinates and soon began one of the most shaky TARDIS rides he had ever experienced. However, compared to the Time War, it was as peaceful as lying on a beach.

But this TARDIS didn't have much left in it, he knew she needed a regeneration of her own. They landed with a crash. He quickly took Aliya in his arms again and left the TARDIS as soon as he could, knowing that TARDIS rebuilding very complicated.

The landscape was as peaceful as it had ever been, with hills and rocks and trees. Tegan had once said that it looked like Earth after a thunderstorm. Tranquil, he had always called it. After what he'd been through, he could definitely use some tranquil rest.

He clutched Aliya's still form to his chest and he found a suitable rock to lean against as he sat down on the barely dry grass. As he noted the almost disturbing way her head hung backwards, a horrible thought came to mind. What if the regeneration hadn't worked? He had heard of cases before when the regeneration energy was not powerful enough to ignite life in the new body. He checked for a pulse, and there was none.

"Don't be dead," The Doctor said quietly, his voice begging even though she could not hear. He shifted his arm so that her blonde head of wavy hair was supported and no longer dangling. "Please don't be dead." The lifeless body gave no signs of change.

He brushed a golden strand of hair out of her face, which he then stared at until he had memorised every inch of the tanned skin. Although her eyes were closed, he knew that underneath the eyelids would most likely be irises of different colours, the heterochromia she had inherited, a dominant gene that had yet to fail to be expressed in her. Her grandmother had possessed it as well, for 8 of her then 11 bodies, or so she had once told him.

The now non-freckled nose was less childlike than before. She had delicate lips that were slightly parted in her state of unconsciousness. His fingers brushed over them.

"Please…" He pleaded again. He placed his ear against her chest, and this time there was the faintest thrumming of a heartbeat.

The Doctor's breath cut short and he didn't dare to let himself for one moment believe in the sound. However, slowly but surely it increased in frequency and strength until ten minutes later, one heart was beating steadily.

"Please wake up," He asked gently. The one heartbeat was enough to let him hope regardless of how much pain it could cause him later. An internal debate began, but before any of his conflicted emotions rose victorious in the fight to he heard, the sync of Aliya's heartbeat was broken by the addition of a faint and uneven secondary beat.

His own hearts began to race as hers drummed into comforting regularity.

Time after that became immeasurable even for him. But after what seemed like an eternity, Aliya's head jerked back a little, and a wisp of golden energy escaped her lips with a sudden exhale that was music to his large ears. He watched, holding his breath while her eyes snapped open. One was somewhere between blue and green and the other an indigo with a hint of purple, both quite different from colours she had had previously.

Gasping urgently for breath, Aliya's hands immediately latched onto his arm with a vice-like grip. The Doctor continued to support her body as it flexed with newfound life. Eventually she relaxed and nothing moved apart from her chest, which rose and fell with her breathing; finally, it was normal, albeit a little heavy.

The Doctor let out a thoroughly relieved noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. "You're alive." His voice showed the fact he was still having trouble believing it. "You're really alive."

Aliya's mouth corners turned upwards into a knowing smile.

"No need to sound so surprised," She said dryly, her eyes now shut again. "I'm almost offended by your lack of faith in me."

"Lack of faith?" The Doctor asked in an affronted tone, "You were unconscious without a single heartbeat, skin colder than Earth freezing temperature, and you think I should have had more faith in you?"

Aliya's head lifted and her eyes opened for the sole reason of rolling at him. "It's called a healing coma, you dolt," She said patronisingly.

"Oh, so it's supposed to make you better, is it? Rubbish." The Doctor grinned at her in a cheeky and infuriating manner. His fingers were fiddling with a strand of her hair. "I think you need a Doctor."

He kissed her with glee, his lips soft and gentle. Of course, Aliya's incredibly biased lips did the opposite of protest. It took a few seconds for her to gain enough control over her body to push him away gently and lean her head backward.

"No, you can't just kiss me!" She protested.

The Doctor looked pleased with himself, a slightly smug grin plastered on his face. "Why not? I'm alive, you're alive, the weather's nice, and there's no one here to stop us. All in all, fantastic!" He announced.

"Because…" She grasped at straws until a very good one came to hand. "I'm only wearing your coat! And a blanket…"

"Yes, the coat's a bit small for you now, but don't worry, I didn't peek," He grinned cheekily.

"Good!" She retorted before disentangling herself from his arms and walking gingerly to the other side of the rock, where she had seen that the clothes were hanging. She looked between her choices before selecting the dress.

After giving the Doctor very strict warnings about coming around the large rock, Aliya quickly threw off the blanket and the coat before pulling on the long white garment. She then edged out from behind the rock.

"Does it look alright?"

"Right now, I couldn't care less if you were wearing a potato sack, I just care that you're alive," His eyes burned with an intensity she had never seen in them before. But somehow it made her feel safe, like he would put himself in the way of anything to stop it from getting to her.

He gathered her up in his arms and hugged her tightly, pressing every inch of her against him, to be sure that she was truly there, that she was real. "We're the last ones left," The Doctor told her quietly, not letting go of her.

"I know." She wrapped her arms even more tightly around his neck, where he felt fresh tears coming from her and landing on his skin.

"But we're alive, and we're together. For now, that's all that matters," He continued. He inhaled the scent of her hair deeply, only to be immersed in the heady aroma of her regeneration energy. Abruptly, he let go of her and stumbled several paces back. "But maybe we should keep some…distance."

Confusion sat on her face for a moment before her eyes widened. "You saw me regenerate," She breathed, her face turning pink, "_Again_." That put the grand total up to two.

The Doctor nodded, trying not to think about it too much. Humans, they didn't realise that it was supposed to be a private thing, and he never bothered to try and explain. But her, she knew the implications, the meaning…what had someone once told a companion of his?

_Regeneration on Gallifrey is treated a lot like sex is on Earth._

She moved to sit on a nearby rock, and wrapped her arms around herself. "We need to keep our own space for the next fifteen hours or so at least. If anything happens between us, I want it to be because we want it to and because we make a fully conscious discussion for it to happen. Not because we're both buzzing from regeneration and it's all we can think about."

He had to smirk a little at that. "It's all you can think about?" Not that it wasn't the same for him, but he thought she would be more controlled.

Her cheeks went bright pink. "Shut up." Because it was so much easier to flirt and tease instead of think about Gallifrey and its absence, and all of the questions that it brought up. No, they would have to wait.

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><p><strong>So...was it good, stupid, brilliant? Let me know guys! <strong>

**-MayFairy :)**


	2. Secret and Not So Secret

**Now remember that this story is AU. I am trying to be realistic as to how things could occur with Aliya being around. So while there will be some AUs/partial AUs of episodes, my focus is still probably more on the original stuff in-between.**

**This chapter does contain my AU of Rose, or rather, parts of Rose.**

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><p>"Stop it."<p>

The Doctor's Northern voice was commanding and gruff as it broke the lingering silence in the library. Aliya narrowed her eyes at his vague words. The reaction didn't last long before she again dropped her eyes to the sketchbook in her hands.

She was drawing on the thick paper with an actual antique quill dipped in Raxacoricofallapatorian Ink. Her strokes were harsh, brought on the bottled up tension inside of her. And above all, ignoring him.

"I mean it. Cut it out," He said firmly, planting both of his hands on the opposite side of the table she was sitting at.

Soon after their stop at the Eye of Orion, the realisation of Gallifrey and the Time Lords being gone had begun to weigh down on Aliya very heavily. Despite her demands to be told what occurred during the war and how it ended, the Doctor had refused to disclose any information, getting incredibly touchy about the subject.

Eventually, she had lapsed into a period of silence, determined not to speak to him until he told her the truth. She had not even changed out of the dress she had worn at the Eye of Orion despite five days having passed.

Needless to say, the Doctor had had it up to the eyes.

The quick and sharp movements of the quill illustrated a rough scene derived completely from the blonde's imagination, but a scene that the Doctor found familiar. The picture was rough and sketchy and only half completed. But it showed the interior of a Dalek battleship, and inside, confronting the Daleks stood a man with longish hair and Victorian clothing. He frowned, being the only one still alive who knew that his Eighth body had never actually entered the war.

"Aliya, you listen to me right now. You had bloody better stop ignoring me, or-"

"Or what?" Aliya snarled suddenly, jerking her head up to glare at the man in leather. "You'll what? Threaten me?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

He scowled.

"What can you possibly do?" She asked forcefully with a hateful glower. "I'm the only other surviving member of your species, not to mention your once best friend, you can't hurt me."

The Doctor simply continued to try to stare her down, with nothing to say back to her. She rose out of her seat and began walking around the table.

"You're not the only one hurting, Doctor. Tell me what happened, or this conversation is over. Permanently." She walked behind his unmoving form in the direction of the door, and was caught off guard by his sudden movement. He had swiftly turned and pinned her against the nearby wall, but she only stared him evenly. "I'm not scared of you," She seethed through gritted teeth. "So tell me now."

"Have you considered that maybe I don't want to?" He asked angrily, his face inches from hers. "Have you considered that perhaps the reason I don't want to tell you, is because I want to save you from knowing the horrors I've seen? You won't be able to sleep at night."

"I. Don't. Care," Aliya hissed. "I need to know. They're my people too."

"Alright, but don't you dare say I didn't warn you," The Doctor said reluctantly.

His hands travelled from her arms down to her hands so that he could guide her to one of the living rooms and sit her down on a couch. And then, taking several deep breaths, he started to tell her of the war. Of how he avoided it for as long as he could, until he realised that he was perhaps the only one who could stop it.

He did not tell her of his previous body. Of the one who broke the promise. He wouldn't. Not ever. That was his secret, which he hid out of shame.

But he had to talk of what he did see once he entered the fray of the Time War.

Talk of Daleks, the Time Vortex, fire, the Deathsmiths of Goth…of Romana leading the Time Lords in battle, millions dying, Black Hole Carriers, N-Forms, the endless screaming, Davros, the Gates of Elysium and how he had tried to save his old enemy, the Nightmare Child, Polymos, the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Could-Have-Been-King and his army of Meanwhiles…Rassilon and how he bullied the Time Lords into submission, into agreeing with his outrageous plan, the Final Sanction…

And then, even though he would not speak of that version of himself, he couldn't avoid telling her how it ended. So he spoke of how he stole the Moment…and used the Time Lock to end it all.

_Emptiness._

When it was over, he finally managed to look at her. She stared at him, her brow furrowed and eyes…disbelieving, accusing, horrified…

"Say something," He said, rather desperate, "Please, bloody say something."

"What do you want me to say?" She asked quietly, through a sheet of tears and a constricted throat. "You tore down our whole world and killed everyone on it. What do you _expect _me to say?" Her voice rose, conveying her anger. He reached a hand out to touch her on the shoulder, but she recoiled. "Don't. Just don't."

"Aliya, please-"

She got up from the couch. "Don't you say 'please'," She said shakily, "You have no right to ask _anything_ of me."

"But-"

"You killed them!" She yelled, new tears bursting from her eyes. "You killed all of them, every person, every _child_, and now you sit there and expect me to what? Tell you that's it's okay? That I forgive you? Well I don't! I don't care if you had to save the whole universe, I don't care that there was no other option! You killed billions of people. And right now that's all I can see when I look at you."

Tears started to well in his eyes too. "I didn't have a choice. Please, you have to understand…"

"No, I don't! I owe you nothing!"

"Then kill me! Kill me right now, to avenge them!" The Doctor got to his feet, eyes alight with the challenge. "I deserve it, so do it. End it because right now I wish I were dead. I wanted to die with them."

"Then why didn't you?" Her voice was back to being quiet. The question wasn't vindictive or accusing, it was curious.

"The Moment was so powerful that it was sentient. It spoke to me. Told me that because I intended to die, that was why I had to live." He looked her right in the eye. "It had your face. It walked like you and talked like you. Your fourth body. Because it knew that it would drive me to do what had to be done."

"Me?" She asked weakly. "Why?" Her voice was pained.

"I thought you were dead."

"Why?"

"Everyone did, first day of the war, you disappeared, so did your TARDIS. We thought you ran off and got killed by Daleks."

"I don't even know what happened."

"I don't care. What I care about is that you're alive, and here. But I don't think I can live with another hour of you looking at me like that, let alone years."

"I just…" She stared at him, threatening to crumble. "Tell me that you regret it even though it was necessary. Tell me that you're sorry."

"I'm sorry," He said earnestly, and she propelled herself at him and hugged him tightly, crying into his chest. Both of them shook with grief and loss as they remembered their planet and its absence, and they didn't move for a very long time.

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><p>"Alright, I've told my side of the story, now it's your turn," The Doctor said to the blonde woman sitting nearby.<p>

They were in the library, several days since he had told her of the war. Both of them still experienced lapses of control where the grief and silence was too much and they would just break down, but they didn't often overlap, which meant they always had the other to help them through it.

Eventually, she sighed and closed the book on her lap gently before looking up at him.

"You ask, I tell," She suggested.

"Alright, you turned up outside my TARDIS with a Vortex Manipulator. Where did you get it, and where did you come from before that?"

"You're not going to like it," Aliya said, and he frowned.

"Why not?"

"I was rescued by a blonde woman, with curly blonde hair up to here-" She placed her hand at the bottom of her own hair, "-a voice that sounds exactly like this, and different coloured eyes."

"You're telling me you were rescued by yourself?" The Doctor asked in a tone that showed he clearly hoped it wasn't true.

"Well, I didn't know at the time, because I didn't look like that, and for some reason our minds didn't connect. But looking back on it now, it's a paradox!"

"You would do that wouldn't you? Create a bloody paradox just to rescue yourself."

At that, she glared, not caring for his tone or the way he looked at her like a naughty child. "Hey, I hate them just as much as you do. None of that superiority talk if you don't mind."

"What were you rescued from in the first place?" The Doctor asked.

Aliya frowned at the question. "This is the bit where is gets really strange. I was imprisoned in a mountain, only it wasn't really a mountain."

"Helpful," The Doctor said dryly. "Care to elaborate?"

"I think there was some kind of void inside it. No gravity until the exterior seal was broken, and completely hollow and dark inside. I was suspended in the middle, unable to move, touch, feel, see, smell, hear…I literally felt nothing. The darkness started shutting down my brain…I don't know how long I was in there, but before she – I rescued me, I had regenerated for the third time since I had been put in there," Aliya explained.

The Doctor thought back on her past and did the math. "Which makes this your eighth body, if I'm right?"

She nodded.

"Blimey! You've almost caught up to me now!" He noted, grinning, but only for a moment. "But how did you get to the mountain before you were inside it? Do you remember?"

Aliya shook her head. "I remember waking up in bed...alone..." She half expected him to react, but the Doctor only continued to stare evenly, with unusually patient curiosity. "And then just after I had gotten dressed, suddenly someone got me in the neck and I lost consciousness. I'm guessing that was when they took me, because the next thing I remember after that was voices. They forced a regeneration on me and put me in the void. That's the last thing I can remember. Dying in the dark." She was grim by that point, remembering the incident with horrifying clarity.

"Well, despite whoever did it not treating you that well, I can't help but want to thank them," The Doctor said.

"Why?"

"Because if it weren't for them, you wouldn't be here now with me." He replied simply.

"So there's that silver lining I was looking for," Aliya said softly, giving him a gentle smile.

* * *

><p>"I still don't quite understand what I did wrong," The Doctor complained as they walked back along the gravel road to the TARDIS.<p>

"You threatened them."

"One of them was threatening you!"

"Because I was wearing jeans in a place where it was scandalous if women showed their ankles."

"Details," He retorted.

"And anyway, that was only one of them. The other one didn't seem to mind, so what exactly did he do wrong?" Aliya asked in exasperation.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her as they entered the TARDIS console room. "Mind? Of course he didn't mind. Why would he mind?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Aliya crossed her arms as she leant back on the nearest coral pillar, as they were part of the new desktop theme that the TARDIS had installed after its own regeneration.

"He was looking at you," The man in the leather jacket explained flatly as he sat down on the jump seat.

She raised an eyebrow. "He was looking at me." She repeated in exactly the same tone.

"Yes, he was. And I didn't like it, so I told him to shunt off." The Doctor crossed his arms stubbornly. His eyes watched her briefly before moving to latch onto the console instead.

Aliya rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know better, I would say you were jealous."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because if you were, that would be ridiculous."

"Oh really? And why's that?" He turned his eyes back to the console after they once again wandered to her.

She laughed. "Because of the obvious!"

"You might think that it's obvious, but believe me, it's not. And _jealousy _makes no difference, I don't want complete strangers happily staring at your-" The Doctor hesitated as he tried to think of the right words, only too aware of her waiting expression which suggested trouble if the wrong word slipped out. "-assets."

"But why does it matter? When I'm obviously-" Aliya stopped herself, as an unsure frown settled on her face. "- I mean, you must realise."

He sighed grumpily. "Realise what?"

"That I - oh my lord, you really don't see, do you?" Her eyes widened as she took him, all brooding leather and dark expression. This particular incarnation of the Doctor was very much the brooding type, something she had noticed very quickly. The man in question began tinkering with the TARDIS console, purposely not looking at her. "Look at me!" His blue eyes slowly ascended to meet her gaze.

"See what?"

"What I've made fairly obvious over the last couple of months, and the last couple of centuries! That in the entire universe, I have eyes for one person." She had made some progress, as he now eyed her with something close to disbelief, meaning that while he had caught on, he either didn't agree or couldn't understand it.

"Better go and tell'em, then," He said slowly, and ever so slightly deliberately. At the same time, she could sense it was his way of being sure, that he was giving her an out...or perhaps himself one.

Aliya chuckled a little, grinning, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to use a language that even he can't misread."

And so, as he kept his eyes on her, she approached him steadily, at a pace that gave him plenty of time to move away. Unsurprisingly, he did nothing of the sort, and instead stayed as steadfast as a boulder. She stepped into his personal space and let her hands come up to take his jumper in her fists. And then, with his heavy gaze on her, she brought herself up on her toes and pulled him down just enough so that she could bring her lips to his in a kiss which, while gentle enough, also made her point suddenly very clear.

Although his lips somewhat returned the gesture, his body remained frozen until she let go, and she noticed his hands clenched at his sides. When half a minute had passed and he had done nothing but stare, doubt hit her, rather belatedly.

"Okay, I get it, it was just the regeneration energy making you do it before," She said quietly, trying to ignore the huge pit in her stomach which was growing with every passing second, "Didn't mean anything. I'm sorry, you clearly don't-"

The Doctor cut her off by using her jacket to reel her in before pulling her into a kiss which made her legs go weak and the entirety of time and space fall away. It was strong, passionate, forceful, and full of intent. Her arms looped around his neck as she kissed him back with all the energy and affection she had. Since his hands already held her jacket, it was easy for him to throw it on the floor and let the sides of her torso become much easier for him to manually map out.

But when their hips aligned, a shiver ran down Aliya's spine. Not the bad kind, but one that was far too good. Her hands tried to push him away but it took a few seconds for him to respond, though the moment he did she was out of his arms and he was several metres away.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line," He apologised before she could say anything, and she abruptly shook her head.

"No, no it wasn't, it was good, _more _than good," She smiled a little when a spark of hope came back into his eyes, "But there's no rush."

He nodded, before admitting, "You might have been right about the jealousy. I just... I don't like the idea of other men…you know…" He trailed off.

"Looking at me?" She guessed with slight sarcasm.

"No," The Doctor said, and then paused before stepping back towards. "Yes. No."

"Which is it?" Aliya laughed softly.

"Looking at you…that's for me. No one else," He said firmly, his blue eyes locked with her different coloured ones, which watched him with curious anticipation. The Doctor ran his eyes over her wavy hair that fell short of her shoulders, and felt slight satisfaction come with the fact that he was slightly taller than she was. "Touching you…" He placed his hand on her cheek gently, slowly caressing it with his thumb. "That's mine too." She closed her eyes as her entire body relaxed under his touch.

"Look at me," He commanded. She did as he said.

"So looking at _you…_" She swept her eyes over his short hair and strong ears and nose, taking in his entire body before returning to his face. "Is that mine?"

"If you want a daft old man like me, then yes," The Doctor said with only a half joking tone.

"You're not old. 905, or even 1207 – or however old you really are – isn't that old. There's only two hundred years between us." She protested calmly.

"I'm about twenty years older than you physically, by human standards." He continued, almost as though he wanted her to be disgusted by the gap.

"So? Humans can't get anything right," She said simply. "Anything else?" She opened her eyes to show him the small amount of hope in her eyes. He gave her a small smile and traced his thumb across her lip.

"Anything else that's mine?" He repeated slowly, before turning a smouldering gaze onto her. "You tell me."

Aliya struggled to keep coherent thought dominant in her mind. His gaze was so intense. She would never be able to get used to all the emotions he was able to hold in his eyes at one time.

"Anything you want," She whispered, grabbing his other hand and running her own fingers over it in a gentle massage as she brought it to touch her hair. He continued to stroke it softly even once her hand was gone. "I'm yours in all the ways that could possibly matter, have been for a while."

"Mine?"

"Yours." Aliya could see the reaction across his face that had been caused by her words. There was surprise, then satisfaction, then something close to possessiveness.

His face was inches from hers as his fingers grazed her lips, a questioning look in his eye.

"I think we've already clarified that one," She said with a wry smile.

The Doctor kissed her gently. To her, he tasted of red grass and the smell of the mountains of their planet. To him, she tasted like silver trees and the orange starlight. It offered comfort to both of them, giving a small cure for the homesickness they both felt.

After a short time, he pulled away. "You said no rush, so I'm not going to push my luck."

"You know that it's not like that," She let her hand drift over the leather of his jacket, "After all, it's not like we've never...you know."

He chuckled a little at that. "Now that you mention it, I do remember a fair few times...quite distinctly," He said cheekily, and she just smiled at her memories of the events he was referencing, remembering them well herself.

"Exactly, except that it's different this time. We've both got new bodies and personalities to break in...and there's no reason to rush like there was before. We can just...take it slow and figure out where we end up."

The Doctor thought her words over as he studied her face and eventually nodded. "Slow," He pondered. "Alright. Might be good to work on my patience."

She laughed gently. "I don't know about you, but I can't quite fit the idea in my head." She broke out into a wide smile. "I mean, we can actually do what we want!"

"We've known each other for a millennium, and yet this is a first for us. Actually having free will." The Doctor's grin matched hers.

Aliya was about to leave to see if the TARDIS had made a room for her yet, but was struck by an overwhelming urge. Turning back after only having travelled half a dozen steps in her path, she rushed back and stood on the very tips of her toes so as to get as much height on him as possible, and she kissed him gleefully for a few seconds. He chuckled at her carefree actions and they laughed against each other's lips during the few seconds the kiss lasted.

After having pulled away, Aliya flashed the Doctor a look over her shoulder that told him she was very pleased with herself. The Doctor stared after her, still having trouble comprehending everything concerning her. How she could possibly be alive, and with him.

And while he knew that he wanted her in every way possible, he knew that 'taking it slow' would be good for both of them, even if it was presently far more difficult.

* * *

><p>"Look at that!" The Doctor announced, eyeing the results on the scanner.<p>

"What?" Aliya asked in a bored tone while flicking through a TARDIS engineering manual she had found at the very back of library. It had not surprised her to find it there, as TARDIS engineering had never been one of the Doctor's strong points, no matter what he liked it claim. Coming from the House of Arpexia on Gallifrey and spending most of her school life specialising, it was one of the few things she was actually good at.

"A trace of warp-drive energy…and I've seen this level of concentration before. Nestene," He explained.

Aliya raised an eyebrow as she looked at him, now reluctantly hooked with mild interest. "Nasty. I suppose you're going to rush in there and see what it's doing?"

"Of course I am! Rushing about and sticking my nose in is what I do best." He replied proudly. "And don't you go putting all this 'me' stuff in. You're coming with me."

"Look, fighting hostile aliens might be your idea of a good time, but not me." Aliya said vaguely as she turned a manual page.

The Doctor raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Like I'm going to believe that. I've seen that look you get in your eyes when I talk about my adventures, and you know you loved the ones we've already had. I mean, that planet where we had to hop, I know you loved that."

"Well…fine, so maybe you're right," Aliya admitted. "I guess I'm just feeling lazy today."

"All the better reason to get out and do something! Come on, Aliya, we've got work to do! I think I can use the sonic to trace the signal to the source, or maybe a transmitter, though you never know what we might find…"

He pulled her out of the TARDIS, and out onto the London street, where a large clothing shop stood on the corner.

* * *

><p>Aliya stood in the elevator, waiting for the Doctor to return from whatever it was he was doing. Suddenly, the doors opened and he ran inside, with a blonde human girl in tow. As the doors shut moving plastic mannequins were visible, and one managed to get its hand through. The Doctor wrestled with it and she did her best to help until the arm finally came off and the elevator doors shut properly.<p>

"You pulled his arm off!" The human said in disbelief.

"Well spotted," Aliya said dryly, but soon smiled at the other blonde. "He drag you into this?" The girl nodded. "Of course he did."

"Oi!" The Doctor said indignantly.

"But, you pulled his arm off!" The human girl repeated again.

The Doctor threw the arm to her. "Yep. Plastic."

"Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?" She asked seriously, looking annoyed. Then again, they had mostly likely just tried to kill her, so Aliya realised that perhaps annoyance was a little justified.

"Students?" Aliya repeated.

"Yeah, students." The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Why would they be students?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know!"

Aliya stared at the girl. "Then why did you say it?"

"Because I just did, does it matter?" The blonde looked irked, particularly at the older female.

"Well, you said it. Why students?" The man in leather asked.

"Because…to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they gotta be students." The girl shrugged.

"That makes sense. Well done."

"Thanks."

"We never dressed up as plastic duplicates and tried to kill people when we were students!" Aliya argued, not agreeing with her friend's previous statement. "So how does that in any way make sense?"

"Aliya, no offence, but you know virtually nothing about this place, so if you kept your ignorant questions to a minimum, we would save a lot of time." The Doctor said flatly, still watching the lift doors.

"And how am I supposed to change that if I don't ask questions?"

"I don't mind the questions, but there's a time and a place."

The blonde girl cut in. "Sorry, um, can we return to the students thing?"

"They're not students," The Doctor corrected her.

"Well, whoever they are, when Wilson finds them he's gonna call the police."

"Who's Wilson?"

"Chief Electrician."

Aliya made an uncomfortable noise, and the Doctor looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Dead?" He asked. She nodded solemnly, a frown on her face as the doors to the elevator opened. She and the Doctor quickly exited.

"That's not funny, that's sick!" The girl said as she followed them out.

"Hold on, mind your eyes." The Doctor pushed her to the side as he used his sonic screwdriver on the elevator.

"I've had enough of this now!" The girl cried. The two Time Lords ignored her and began to walk off. "Who are you two then? Who's that lot down there?" When she got no answer, she followed. "I said, who are they?"

"They're made of plastic, living plastic creatures." The Doctor explained.

"Nestene," Aliya added.

"Yeah, because she really knows what that is." He rolled his eyes at her. "They're being controlled by a great big relay device on the roof, which, would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He held up a beeping gadget. "So, I'm going to go upstairs, and blow it up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me."

"Don't be so pessimistic!" Aliya chided him. "It's not like I won't be there to help. I'm hardly going to let you die."

"Anyway, off you go, go have your lovely beans on toast." The Doctor told the blonde girl as he pushed her out of the door. "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

"We have to go now!" Aliya reminded him. He nodded and shut the door only to open it a second later.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is Aliya," He added, "What's your name?"

"Rose," She answered unsurely.

"Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!" He told her cheerfully before closing the door. He grabbed Aliya's hand and they headed for the roof.

* * *

><p>The Doctor went down the steps of the council estate building, done with interrogating the human girl – who was following him.<p>

"Hold on a minute. You can't just go swanning off."

"Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See you," He told her. He'd come alone because Aliya had bluntly told him that she had no interest to make house calls to humans and would rather get something to eat from the TARDIS kitchen, so they'd left each other to it.

"But that arm was moving. It tried to kill me," The girl said.

"Ten out of ten for observation," He remarked a little sarcastically.

"You can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell me what's going on."

"No, I don't."

"All right, then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking." He looked back at her with slight amusement, the little human called Rose, trying to threaten him.

"Is that supposed to sound tough?" He asked.

She frowned. "Sort of."

He chuckled. "Doesn't work."

"Who are you?"

"Told you. The Doctor."

"Yeah, but Doctor what?" Humans had the most irritating tendency to never just accept his name. It was always, 'Doctor what?', or 'Doctor who?'. As if their naming system was the only valid one in the universe.

"Just the Doctor," He said for at least the ten thousandth time in his life.

"The Doctor."

"Hello!" He waved, smiling cheerily at her.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?"

"Sort of."

"Come on, then. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No, we were just passing through. Long way from home."

"But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?"

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you. You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."

"It tried to kill me."

"It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, we were there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you've met me," He explained, not bothering to hold much back from her. What was the point?

"So what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you."

"Sort of, yeah." He chuckled again.

"You're full of it."

"Sort of, yeah." The Doctor grinned, loving any time to stroke his own ego.

"But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?"

"No one, except Aliya."

"What, you're on your own?" He wasn't sure why she sounded so surprised. After all, just how many did she expect to be informed about this sort of thing? Sure, there was UNIT, but they were secret military, and didn't exactly count. It's not like they were much good most of the time anyway, not without his help.

"Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

"Okay. Start from the beginning. I mean, if we're going to go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it?"

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

"So that's radio control?"

"Thought control." He glanced at her, checking for culture shock or freak outs. "Are you all right?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story."

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" She laughed, and he laughed with her.

"No."

"No."

"It's not a price war." He became serious. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"

"No."

"But you're still listening." He looked up. "Ah, there she is!" He remarked happily as he spotted a figure in the distance leaning against a blue box. He waved and she waved back.

"Really though, Doctor! Who are you?" Rose called out, pulling him away from his thoughts about the woman who was now walking over to them.

"Nobody important. Just trying to make up for some things I did wrong. Forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home." He pretended to wave the plastic hand, and at the same moment, Aliya got to them.

"You didn't get yourself killed then?" She noted with a grin.

"Hey. Rose, wasn't it?" She smiled at the girl, and then spotted the plastic arm. "Urgh, it's that again."

The Doctor turned away from Rose to speak to the other blonde. "And just for that, you can hold it." He told her with an innocent smile as they began to walk back towards the box together, away from Rose.

Aliya eyed the arm with distaste but took it with her left hand anyway. Rose watched the two of them walk away. Their flirtatious banter faded from her hearing range with every step they took.

She stared after them before turning away.

* * *

><p>Rose followed Clive to his dark shed. She'd gone home, looked up the Doctor on the internet, and kept refining her search until something helpful came up (mentioning his friend's name did absolutely nothing at all, it was like she didn't even exist, also, unless she was spelling it wrong). 'Doctor Blue Box' had finally got her what she wanted, and after emailing the man Clive several times, here she was.<p>

"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive," He told her, "I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean." He began going through his stuff. "If you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspirisy theories, even ghost stories. No first name, no last name, just the Doctor. Always The Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son. It appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?" He showed her the fuzzy picture, and she nodded.

"Yeah."

"I tracked it down to the Washington private archive just last year. The online photo's enlarged, but if we look at the original…" The original was a picture from Kennedy's assassination, where the Doctor was just in the crowd with everyone else. And there was a blonde beside him who also looked suspiciously familiar, though the quality was vague enough that she supposed it was possible she was just being paranoid. "November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy. You see?"

"It must be his father," Rose murmured.

"Going further back. April 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friends." He showed her the picture of the Doctor with an unmistakeable Aliya at his side, both dressed in clothes of the time. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And here we are." He took out a sketch. "1883. Another Doctor. And look, the same lineage. It's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion."

"Her," Rose said, pointing at Aliya.

"Death," Clive corrected, and then sighed. "But her as well, I suppose. No one can really work out who she is. No name, nothing even as vague as Doctor. She's just there. But if the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, or her, Rose, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger. If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls, then God help you."

"But who are they? Who do you think he is?" Rose asked.

Clive frowned. "I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world. Her too, maybe."

* * *

><p>The Doctor burst into the TARDIS, and Aliya could hear Rose's voice from outside.<p>

"You can't hide inside a wooden box. It's going to get us! Doctor!" There was a pause, the sound of footsteps and then rattling. Then Rose burst into the TARDIS, only to run out again and return less than a minute later.

"It's going to follow us!"

"Don't worry," Aliya said with a reassuring smile. "They can't get in."

Meanwhile, the Doctor turned around to face the startled human girl. "Right. Where do you want to start?" He asked kindly.

"The inside is bigger than the outside."

"Yes."

"It's…alien."

"Yep."

"Are you alien?" She asked the Doctor.

"Yes. That alright?" He smiled.

"Yeah," Rose said quickly. "Are you _both_ alien?"

"Yep. She's same as me," The Doctor said with a grin, "It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." As it all began to sink in, Rose momentarily broke down. "That's alright, culture shock. Happens to the best of us," The Doctor said comfortingly.

"Did they kill him? Mickey?" Rose asked suddenly, pointing her thumb towards outside. "Did they kill Mickey, is he dead?"

"Oh, I didn't think of that." The Doctor frowned. Aliya pinched the bridge of her nose with exasperation and elbowed him lightly.

"Well, it's a good thing I did!" She told him before turning to Rose. "They would need a live source to sustain the duplicate, so he may be alive. But you might want to prepare yourself in case he's not."

"Alright," Rose said with a nod. "How are we going to find him?"

"We'll follow the trace from the head-" Aliya turned back to indicate when she noticed the head melting. "Doctor! The head!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" He exclaimed, and began frantically jumping around the console, commanding Aliya to help him.

"What are you doing?" Rose cried.

"Following the signal, it's fading!"

After a few seconds of staring into the scanner he went off into another string of 'No's, but Aliya reminded him they were almost there. When they landed the Doctor grabbed Aliya's hand and pulled her out of the doors with him onto the street next to the river.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose called after them, but quickly went quiet upon seeing their surroundings.

"…I was so close!" The Doctor complained to Aliya, who just confidently assured him that they would get there in the end.

"We've moved!" Rose said in surprise. "Does it fly?"

"It disappears then reappears here, you wouldn't understand," The man in leather said gruffly.

Aliya just flashed Rose a sympathetic smile.

* * *

><p>"How could you hide something so big in a city this small?" The Doctor wondered.<p>

"Hide what?"

"The transmitter," Aliya said.

"Exactly, The Nestene Consciousness is controlling every piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"What does it look like?"

"Like a transmitter! Round, massive, somewhere slap-bang in the middle of London." He said, walking around to the other side of the police box. "A huge metal circular structure, like a dish…"

"Or a wheel?" Aliya said vaguely, staring at the London Eye behind him.

"Yeah, and close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." He continued.

Rose also was looking at the London Eye now. He frowned.

"What?"

Rose nodded in the direction of the Eye. He turned his head around and then looked back, not noticing what she was trying to get across.

"What?" He asked again.

Aliya rolled her eyes and walked up to him before turning his whole body around to face the Eye. "How about the giant metal wheel which is completely visible, right in the middle of the city, and close to where we're standing._"_

The Doctor finally got it. "Oh," He said while staring at the Eye, but he turned back around to face Aliya again. "Fantastic." He gave her a quick kiss as a result of excitement before running off towards the bridge. Rose and Aliya quickly made to follow.

* * *

><p>The three of them climbed down the ladder and came into the multi-level underground chamber. The Doctor explained the anti-plastic to Rose before he began his descent down.<p>

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peace contract according to convention fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation." He waited for a reply. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach."

"Oh god! Mickey, it's me!" Rose exclaimed, and she ran down to where Mickey was curled up at a lower level. Aliya followed her. "You're stinking."

"Told you, there's always hope," The alien said to the human, who smiled back. The Doctor continued to negotiate behind them.

"Shouldn't you be helping him?"

Aliya glanced back at him, standing there accusing the Nestene of invading. She shook her head. "This is his area, not mine. Besides, I don't think I'd be much help."

"Not so sure about that," Rose said, noticing the plastic dummies approaching the Doctor, "Doctor!" But it was too late for a warning, they had grabbed him and one of them pulled the anti-plastic from his pocket.

"That was just insurance," The Doctor said, "I wasn't going to use it." Aliya moved to help him, only to be grabbed as well. "I was _not_ attacking you, none of us were. We're not your enemy, I swear we're not." He paused. "What do you mean?"

A door slid back to reveal the TARDIS. "No. Oh, no. honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world. I couldn't save any of them!" The Doctor yelled at the consciousness.

"What's it doing?" Rose asked Aliya, who was nearer.

"The Nestene identified the superior technology of the TARDIS, and now it's panicking. It's going to the final phase, the invasion," She answered, trying not to panic herself. The outlook wasn't good.

"Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!" The Doctor yelled. As the plastic in the large vat continued to roar, Rose got her phone and started dialling.

"Mum?" She paused as her mum talked. "Where are you, Mum?" Another pause. "No, go home! Just go home right now! Mum! Mum!"

"It's transmitting!"

"It's the end of the world," Rose breathed.

"Get out, Rose, just run!" Aliya shouted.

"The stairs have gone," She said, and her and Mickey ran to the TARDIS as the dummies began to push the Doctor into the vat. "I haven't got the key!"

"We're going to die!" Mickey cried. But Aliya could see Rose looking around the chamber, could see the girl thinking of other possibilities. She then ran around the chamber and grabbed an axe before chopping through a rope that held a chain in place. She took a firm grip and swung on it, kicking the dummies into the vat, resulting in the anti-plastic falling in as well. As she swung back, the Doctor managed to grab her.

"Now we're in trouble," He told her. The four of them were quick to run to the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>Mickey stumbled out of the TARDIS, not able to get away from it fast enough. Rose followed, calling her mum on her mobile phone to check on her, only to have her mother to tell her the same thing she had been trying to say all along – don't go out of the house.<p>

"Fat lot of good you were," Rose told Mickey, who merely cowered now that the Doctor and Aliya were standing in the TARDIS doorway, the former leaning on the doorway and latter leaning on him.

"Nestene Consciousness?" The Doctor said, "Easy." He clicked his fingers.

"Aren't they all?" Aliya joked.

"You two were useless in there! You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." Rose reminded them proudly.

"Of course!" Aliya grinned.

"Yes, we would. Thank you," The Doctor admitted. "Right then, we'll be off! Unless, I don't know, you could come with us. This bus isn't just a London Hopper you know! It goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge."

"Don't! They're aliens! They're things!" Mickey pointed at them.

"We'd rather if you didn't bring him though," said Aliya.

"No, he's definitely _not _invited." The Doctor agreed. "What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or go…anywhere!"

"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked.

The two Time Lords exchanged grins. "Yeah."

Mickey chose that moment to begin hugging Rose's legs, desperate for her not to leave.

"Yeah, I can't," Rose said eventually. "I've got to go find my mum, and someone's got to look after this stupid lump. Anyway, it's not like you really need me. You two have each other."

"Yeah, we do," Aliya said with a small smile.

"That's okay, just an idea." The Doctor said quickly.

"Tell you what though, if you ever need someone, like, on Earth, just come to the Powell Estate and ask for me. You know, if aliens come back to Earth or something, since I already know about it," Rose suggested.

The Doctor grinned widely. "We'd like that. Fantastic. Rose Tyler, the inside intelligence. See you around." He turned from the doorway and went inside.

"Bye, Rose." Aliya followed him.

Rose watched the TARDIS dematerialise before walking away with Mickey. It didn't come back.

* * *

><p><strong>For the record, the Moment in the Deafening SilenceHalfway Out of the Dark universe WILL be the Bad Wolf/Rose. But in this case, with the timeline altered, you see that Rose doesn't become a companion, she'll be more of a Jackie or Mickey-type character. By not travelling him, he's not in love with her, hence Bad Wolf isn't the form that the Moment would take. **

**But in the DS universe, Rose obviously was a companion and the Doctor was very much in love with her, so she/Bad Wolf will definitely still be the Moment. **

**Let me know what you thought?**

**-MayFairy :)**


	3. Future and Past

**Covers the some parts of The End of the World, and The Unquiet Dead. Because in the end, unless her presence is going to make an actual significant difference to the plot, which a lot of the time it won't, then it isn't necessary to show all of the scenes, just the ones where any interesting changes happen. **

* * *

><p>"So that's them…the human race, your personal favourites," Aliya said thoughtfully as she leaned casually against the console.<p>

"Yep," The Doctor said while looking at the scanner.

"How do they turn out?"

"Oh, they go on longer than anyone, they spread out across the universe, touching every star on their huge journey of existence…" The Doctor found himself getting lost in his own words, "Those stupid little apes, shining like the brilliant stars that they are." He snapped out of his daze. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if we could see them…further on in their history, to see how much they change. What happens to the Earth?" Aliya said curiously.

"Do you fancy a little trip to the future?" The Doctor suggested, grinning. She mirrored his smile as her eyes lit up with innocent excitement.

"Yes please," She said automatically. He beamed and began setting the controls for five billion years in the future.

* * *

><p>After bluffing their way into being guests on Platform One to watch the sun expand, Aliya was very interested in the psychic paper.<p>

"Where did you pick this up? It's new," She asked, eyeing it as she flipped it over in her hands.

"Picked it up when I helped the Time Agency out once," He explained, "But it's very handy."

"I can see that," She said, smirking, "As if you weren't good enough at getting into places you shouldn't be already."

"Good at getting in, maybe," He admitted, "But not always getting out."

"I can recall that a few times too."

"Only a few? You barely travelled with me, you chickened out, remember? Couldn't handle it."

"Well, I can now," She told him firmly.

That was when the rest of the guests began to arrive. Various species piled in, much to the delight of the Time Lords. And then gifts were exchanged.

"The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my grandfather," The attractive tree woman, the Forest of Cheam one called Jabe, said, handing the Doctor a small pot with a tiny plant growing out of it.

"Thank you," He replied in awe, seeing the significance of the gesture. He passed the tree cutting to Aliya before patting his pockets in search of something to give. "Yes, gifts, um…I give you in return, air from my lungs." He opened his mouth and expelled air over the face of the tree woman.

"How…intimate," She said in surprise, casting a sensual look at him. Aliya frowned, her different coloured eyes flicking between the two of them.

"There's more where that came from," The Doctor replied suggestively without breaking eye contact.

"I bet there is," She answered flirtatiously, running her gaze over him before smiling. Luckily, before he could continue to flirt, the Face of Boe from the Silver Devastation was introduced, distracting them all.

Aliya stared after Jabe as she walked away. "Trees your new type, are they?" She asked casually, and he looked at her with slight amusement.

"Are you _jealous_?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"No," She said, frowning, "That's your job. Just asking. She's very nice, and very pretty."

"Also, a tree. Probably not compatible. Besides, I'm spoken for, aren't I?"

She looked down at the hand he was offering for and smiled. "Yes, I suppose you are."

* * *

><p>The music started playing from Cassandra's 'iPod' and the Doctor grinned as he began to do a strange mini-dance to it.<p>

"What is this? Doesn't sound 'classical' to me…" Aliya said as she approached him.

"Nah, not really, but it's a 20th century classic," He said happily.

"Well, thanks for bringing me here, it's really interesting." She told him with a pleased smile.

"No problem," He said, returning the smile. He took her hands and began pulling her into movements which matched the beats of the song 'Tainted Love' in the background. She laughed at the strangeness and slight awkwardness the not-quite-a-dance had, but the Doctor could see she was enjoying it all the same.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could get away from all the action for a while," Aliya said slowly after several minutes as she cast her eyes around the room. "Away from people who gather to see destruction for fun."

The Doctor shrugged passively. "If you like," he offered. The two of them stepped out of their dance and began heading towards the room exit with linked arms.

"Doctor?" The tree woman from earlier asked as she virtually appeared out of nowhere, and the two of them turned around to see her holding some hand-held device up. "Thank you."

She walked away with the device and began commanding it using the voice control. "Identify species." She told it, watching the picture of the man and woman continue to turn around on the screen of the device. "Please identify species. Now stop it, identify their race. Where are they from?" The device beeped and finally, reluctantly, gave her an answer, one she couldn't believe. "That's impossible," She said quietly.

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Aliya walked into a vacant observation room, choosing to sit on opposite sides of the steps.<p>

"So, you like it, then?" He asked. She nodded, grinning.

"It's great. You learn a lot, from all the travelling, don't you?"

"Why do you think I know so much?" He replied easily with an air of cockiness.

"Well, certainly not because you paid attention in school…" Aliya retorted cheekily.

"Oi, none of that," He reprimanded firmly, but he met her eye and they both chuckled. There was a long silence.

Aliya ran her eyes over his form, eyeing the leather that she always longed to touch. "I love travelling with you, being with you again. It's an opportunity that I thought I would never get."

"Me neither." The Doctor said slowly, his eyes staring compassionately into her own. "But it's fantastic." He got up and sat next to her instead, grinning at her and making her grin back. "Sitting her, top of the world, with my best friend next to me. Yep, that'll do nicely." He turned around just in time for her to kiss him quickly, grabbing him by the jacket lapels and pulling him in.

But he wasn't one to just be snogged and to go along with it. He got off the wood he was sitting on and leant over her where she sat, bringing one hand up to cup her face and take control of the kiss, holding her closer and kissing her more deeply. Meanwhile, his other hand pulled her up slightly from her seat, so that their chests were practically flush against each other and his arm was the only thing holding her in place.

"Okay," Aliya said breathily as they momentarily stopped for oxygen, "You win."

"Of course," He said as though it were obvious.

"You won't always win!" She retorted quickly. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" He challenged. His fingers descended to her midsection where they began tickling her mercilessly, like they had so many centuries ago back when they were students. She jumped at the torturous sensation that was half pain and half pleasure, begging him to stop. "Oh, so you're ticklish, huh?"

"No," she said automatically but his fingers continued their assault and she let out another squeal as she unsuccessfully tried to fight his hands off. "Okay, yes, I am, just stop, please!"

His hands stopped tickling her and instead began to run up the sides of her torso slowly, his touch light. The contact, however tiny, sent a shiver up Aliya's spine. Eventually his hands travelled up the back of her neck to cup her head and kiss her softly, her reward for having to endure the awful tickling torture.

They had just pulled apart when the entire platform shook, awaking them from the daze.

"Hold on," The Doctor said thoughtfully looking away from her and up at the ceiling. "That's not supposed to happen."

* * *

><p>They managed to find Jabe and ask her about the engine anomalies.<p>

"It's the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me," She admitted to them.

"Where the engine room?"

"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our suite…I could show you, if you like. You and your…wife?" Jabe's gaze travelled to rest on Aliya, her voice uncertain.

"She's not my wife." The Doctor said flatly, and Aliya felt her cheeks go a little pink.

"Partner?" The tree woman's eyes continued to flick between the two of them, analysing their dynamic.

The Doctor looked thoughtful, and shot a questioning look at the blonde woman next to him, who shrugged cluelessly.

"Of sorts," He settled for in the end.

The three of them went off to explore the maintenance ducts together.

"Partner," Aliya mused, starting to smile, "I kind of like that. It's…ambiguous. Like a partner in crime."

"Which you also are."

"Exactly!"

* * *

><p>The Doctor walked slowly out of the elevator and down the long, empty room to get to the blonde woman standing in front of the large window.<p>

"It's gone…we just missed it. Everyone was too busy to notice a whole world in its final moment…" She whispered softly, a tear running down her cheek, "Just like Gallifrey. One minute, we were the Lords of Time, looking over everything and respected by almost every species, who know of our greatness, and suddenly…history's changed and we're a myth, an impossible story that no one believes in…" Aliya bit her lip in an attempt to hold back tears and she found a warm, large hand surrounding hers in a comforting hold. "Is this your idea of fun? Bringing me to see another world burn? Does it make you feel better about burning ours?"

"I didn't even think about it like that," He admitted. She just sighed.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for, I shouldn't have said that."

"It was plenty called for. I _did _burn it."

"I'm not strong like you are," Her voice wavered a little. "I can't bear it." The Doctor put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle hug that lasted for a long time, kissed her forehead gently and pulled on her hand to lead her back to the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was tinkering, and Aliya was bored beyond belief as she watched him dully from the jump seat. However, her eyes soon settled on the leather jacket draped over the rail. He had discarded it temporarily, and out of boredom and the prospect of a possible new game, Aliya casually got up and swiped the jacket as she went past.<p>

She had just made it to the exit of the console room and pulled the overly large jacket on when the Doctor noticed.

"Oi! Bring that back!" He said sternly.

Aliya's eyes twinkled as she grinned cheekily at him. She looked rather ridiculous in his leather jacket, but wasn't fazed by it.

"Oh, so that's how you want it, is it?" The Doctor asked with a raised eyebrow. "Alright you little _tease, _I think it's high time you started to run."

Aliya ignored the slight butterflies in her stomach that bounced in reaction to the way he had said 'tease', and flashed another taunting smile before turning and running through the TARDIS corridors.

She could hear him pursuing her, and she laughed at the funny reality of it.

"This is my TARDIS, Ali, you can't win," He called out. She looked back and saw him rounding a corner and coming into view. She merely poked her tongue out at him and kept running, and heard him doing the same.

He was gaining, that much was obvious. However, as Aliya thought about it, the capture surely wouldn't be so bad.

The Doctor watched her run from behind, wearing his jacket when it did not fit her. There was some strange, exhilarating feeling that came with chasing her while she was wearing clothing that was his.

Quickly, he had caught up, and he wasted no time in pinning her against the wall, resulting in their faces being inches apart. With their proximity, came eye contact, and with eye contact came that smouldering look that always led to only one thing.

It was a mutual kiss, both sides fighting for dominance, as though it was their chase game continued into a different round. She could not move her hands or arms, he had her trapped and was in complete control, something she was sure she could bear with no large hardship.

Their locked lips never broke contact as his hands travelled to her shoulders and began pushing the jacket down, removing it deftly and gently.

After a moment of initial confusion, Aliya realised he was only taking his jacket back. However, the words were on the tip of her tongue and she couldn't resist saying them when he pulled away and her lips became free again.

"Trying to undress me, Doctor?" She teased, her eyes still sparkling.

"Nope!" He said cheerily. "Just getting my jacket back. Fantastic!" He pulled his arms through the holes. "Great, now there's a tiny trace of your scent on here!" He complained grumpily.

"I'm sure you'll live," Aliya rolled her eyes. "Well, since there's not going to be any undressing, I think I'll be off." She smirked at him before ducking under his arm and walking off in direction of the music suite, with the interest of finding out if there were any instruments in there that would be close enough to those she (along with every other student) had learnt at the Academy.

The Doctor's eyes followed her with amusement, and went back to the console room to finish what he was doing.

* * *

><p>A day or so later, the Doctor suggested a trip in the opposite direction.<p>

"You've seen the future of the humans, how about a look at the past?"

Aliya smiled, not worried about where they were to go. "Sure," She helped him operate the controls while he set the co-ordinates for Naples, 1860.

They landed and she shot him an excited look before racing over to the doors, only to be stopped by his voice.

"Hold it, you'll start a riot out there wearing that!" The Doctor reprimanded her, and Aliya looked down at her denim ensemble before frowning as she realised her mistake. "Wardrobe, off you go, you'll find something suitable."

She sighed and walked out of the console room. While she was gone, the Doctor busied himself under the floor of the console room, programming some of the circuits with his sonic screwdriver. He heard her shoes clicking on the metal grating and looked up.

Aliya wore a long pink and black dress, an elegant off the shoulder gown that complimented her figure while being decent for the time period. She had her short curls pinned closer to her head, with a flowery headpiece sitting on top.

"Blimey!" The Doctor exclaimed, his eyes travelling over her multiple times as he hopped out of the hole in the floor. "You look beautiful! So beautiful, I might have to do this." He kissed her gently, something that did not help her already impressive blushing, and then did a mock bow. "Aliyanadevoralundar, would you allow me to be your escort this evening?"

Aliya smirked, giggling a little. "Do I need you to protect me?" She joked.

"You never know!" He defended. "Come on." He pulled her towards the door.

"Why don't you have to change?"

"I changed my jumper!"

Aliya didn't reply because at that point she opened the door and saw the magical white world outside it. She gasped at the beautiful sight. "Oh, Rassilon, that's…incredible!"

"It's just snow!" The Doctor said casually as he stepped out of the TARDIS after her.

"Well, yes, I know, but…this!" Aliya said softly, her eyes wide as she took in how the white ice covered every surface, and how it made a noise when her boot pressed into it. "It's so pretty…I never imagined it like this."

"How have you never seen snow before?" The Doctor asked in confusion.

She turned her head to roll her eyes at him. "When would I have? We hardly got it in the Citadel!" She knelt down on the ground and scooped up the snow in her fingers, feeling the cold seep through and running her fingers over it to feel the texture of the frozen water.

"What are you doing? You'll ruin your dress, come on!" The Doctor pulled her up and helped her brush all the snow off her dress before the two of them linked arms and walked off down the street.

* * *

><p>"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Aliya asked in disgust as she followed the man and the young woman outside to see them shoving the old woman into the back of a carriage.<p>

The young woman blocked her both and began spouting a huge paragraph about a brain fever and an infirmary, but Aliya rolled her eyes and pushed past to touch the woman's head and realise that she was dead.

"Have you done anything to her? What are you-" The blonde's words were muffled as the man came from behind her with a chloroform cloth, covering her mouth in an attempt to knock her out. She felt her consciousness waver, but fought it, determined not to be bested by a human chemical.

The man and the young woman stared at her with shock and fear as they realised that the chloroform was not going to render her unconscious. He panicked and hit the blonde over the head, the trauma knocking her out.

"What did you do that for?" Gwyneth asked in horror. "That's assault, sir!"

"She's seen too much! And the chloroform didn't work. It's inhuman, that is…" He answered. "Help me get her into the hearse!"

* * *

><p>"Come on, faster!" The Doctor urged the man steering the carriage.<p>

"Who exactly is in that hearse?" Dickens asked.

"My friend, she's only…well…she's nowhere near old, let's put it that way, and it's my fault, she's in my care and now she's in danger…" The Doctor said with obvious worry, his hearts beating slightly out of time at the thought of something happening to her.

"Well, why are we wasting time talking about dry old books, this is much more important…driver, be swift! The chase is on!" Charles called forward, and the carriage sped up, and the Doctor grinned at his new friend and old hero.

* * *

><p>Aliya woke up not long after the man and the woman left her in the room on the table. She blinked hazily, and remembered what had happened. She got up and off the table, her hand travelling up to her head where she felt a lump, swollen and sore from where the man had hit her.<p>

"Bloody humans," she muttered before heading for the door. She heard a strange noise from behind her and looked around to see the man who had been in the coffin rising out of it with pale eyes staring blankly at her.

_Coffin…gas…woman…dead…_

She put the pieces together and swore under her breath as she rushed to the door and rattled the handle, which wouldn't budge.

Oh, what she was going to do to that undertaker when she got her hands on him…

"Let me out! Let out of here, you slimy little creep!" She yelled as she banged down the door as loud as she could.

Down the hall while investigating a lamp, the Doctor heard her.

"That's her!" He said when he heard her cries for help. He ran towards the noise despite the protests of the undertaker whom he passed on the way. He used the sonic screwdriver to open the door just as the corpses were about to get her, pulled her through and shut the door again.

Aliya wrapped her arms around his and hugged his middle in a very childlike manner. "Thank the stars for your ridiculously good timing." He chuckled and returned the hug briefly before letting go of her and giving his attention to the three other people with them. "But Doctor, they were saying things to me…they said they wanted help, they wanted us to 'open the rift' before they couldn't sustain themselves…" Aliya told him urgently, and the Doctor looked thoughtful as the five of them walked into the living room.

* * *

><p>"So what was all that about, then?" Aliya demanded of the undertaker, who had the decency to look mildly ashamed of himself. "You try to use chloroform to knock me out – I've still got the awful taste in my mouth – and then when that doesn't work, you hit me over the head and kidnap me!"<p>

"Now, look here," Sneed tried to interrupt, but she wasn't having any of it.

"And don't think I was completely oblivious…" Her voice was angry, containing the pomposity and pride of a Time Lord as she spoke. "How dare you touch me? I could feel your hands in places that I don't want anyone's hands!" Her eyes briefly flicked to the Doctor, and when his eyebrow lifted slightly, she did her best to not blush and consider that her statement may not be _entirely _true.

The Doctor smirked at her words, feeling rather satisfied with himself.

* * *

><p>Gwyneth lit a lamp as she and Aliya entered the storeroom. The blonde was looking around the place with genuine curiosity and interest, something the Welsh girl didn't understand.<p>

"Please miss, you shouldn't be helping, it's not right!" Gwyneth said as she saw Aliya doing her own work.

"Why not?" Aliya raised an eyebrow.

"It's just…not right, miss." Gwyneth reached for the cloth in her hand and Aliya reluctantly handed it over, not wanting to upset her.

"Did you go to school?" Aliya asked suddenly, worried.

"Of course I did!" Gwyneth said in an almost offended tone. "What do you think I am, an urchin? I went every Sunday, nice and proper." Aliya frowned in confusion.

"You only went to school once a week?" She asked in a horrified tone.

"We did sums and everything!" Gwyneth nodded, and bit her lip guiltily. "To be honest, I hated every second of it."

Aliya laughed. "So did all of us. And I had to go six days a week!"

"What?" Gwyneth said in shock. "But that's what the men do, they don't let women get that sort of education!"

"They do where I come from," Aliya retorted, "Why don't they let you here?"

"Because we're not smart enough, miss. Men are the smart ones, they do all the hard thinking, we just clean and organise and cook." Gwyneth shrugged.

Aliya scoffed. "Wankers," She muttered. Gwyneth raised her eyebrow at the word.

"Well, isn't it true, miss? That they are? Why else would they be allowed the vote and not us?"

"You're not allowed to vote? That's ridiculous!" Aliya spluttered angrily. The feminist side that she had never had a need for before in her life rose within her. "Women are just as smart as men! We're equal, and depending on the individual and the upbringing, sometimes better. You know your Mr Sneed?"

Gwyneth nodded slowly, a little afraid of the older woman.

"I'm smarter than him," Aliya said simply, and the Welshwoman's eyes widened at the words.

"Well, I find that hard to believe miss, but either way, I won't talk ill of him." She said bluntly, and Aliya bit her lip before backtracking.

"What about socialisation? Handsome men? Boys?"

Gwyneth looked deliberately solemn. "Well, I wouldn't know about that."

"Nothing changes there, Gwyneth. When I was your age, I used to look at boys," Aliya shrugged to show it wasn't a big deal. "Well, actually I used to do a bit more than look, but that's beside the point….someone must have caught your eye. Come on, you can tell me, I won't say anything!"

Gwyneth admitted to having a crush on the butcher's boy who came every Tuesday and had a nice smile. Aliya suggested that Gwyneth make a move and offer him a drink.

"I swear, it is the strangest thing, miss," Gwyneth said in an awed voice. "You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some kind of wild thing!"

Aliya laughed. "Maybe I am," She shrugged.

"Doesn't that Doctor of yours mind? That you're full of strange ideas? Do you claim to be smarter than him too?" Gwyneth wondered curiously.

"Only in some things. He bests me most of the time." Aliya admitted.

"Am I right in thinking, miss, that the two of you…" Gwyneth trailed off awkwardly.

Aliya felt her cheeks go a little pink. "Yeah, I suppose we are."

"It's strange though, miss, because you don't wear a ring."

"I left it behind today so that I didn't lose it," She lied. "But you should find someone, get more in your life than old Mr Sneed."

"Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed, it was very kind of him to take me in. I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve," Gwyneth said unsurely, a hint of melancholy in her voice.

"Oh, that's terrible, I'm very sorry to hear that," Aliya said in surprise, her eyes full of sympathy.

"Thank you, miss." Gwyneth sounded surprised by the thoughtfulness of the answer. "But I'll be with them again one day, sitting with them in paradise."

_Oh great, she's religious, _Aliya thought glumly before deciding that she should have a bit more tolerance for what was the local social norm.

"I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your son is waiting up there for you too, miss," Gwyneth continued, shooting a kind look at her.

Aliya felt a surge of emotions run through her: shock, grief, confusion, scepticism….

"How did you know I even had a son? How do you know he died?" Aliya demanded weakly, alarmed.

Gwyneth looked shocked and turned away to get on with her work. "I don't know, maybe the Doctor mentioned it…"

"The Doctor would never mention it!"

"Well, I don't know, miss." Aliya didn't answer, she shut her eyes and tried to push away all thoughts that were flooding into her mind. "Mr Sneed says I think too much," Gwyneth's voice broke Aliya from her troubling thoughts, "I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, though, miss."

"Where I come from, there's no servants," Aliya assured the girl firmly.

"And you've come such a long way…" Gwyneth said vaguely.

"How do you know?"

"You're from a place, with a strange name I've never heard of. There's words and symbols in your head I can't understand for the life of me…the pictures I see, they're so wonderful and so terrible I don't know what to think…" Gwyneth whispered, and Aliya felt her hearts beating faster as she tried to figure out how Gwyneth knew so much, "Strange metal boxes that change shape, going everywhere but not really moving...and it's all about time…people are flying, and you've flown so far, you and the Doctor, further than anyone I know! The things you've seen…the darkness…the silence…the Bad Angel!"

Gwyneth stumbled back against the shelves while Aliya stared at her in shock.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, miss!" Gwyneth apologised profusely. "I've had it since I was a little girl, my mother said I had the Sight, she told me to hide it!"

"And it's getting stronger," The two women jumped as the Doctor's voice joined the conversation from where he stood in the doorway. "More powerful, is that right?"

"All the time, sir," Gwyneth admitted with downcast eyes.

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Aliya shut themselves behind the dungeon door as the corpses came after them.<p>

"Give yourself to glory!" The voice of the Gelth said. "Sacrifice your lives to the Gelth!"

"I trusted you!" The Doctor told the Gelth angrily. "I pitied you!"

"We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh!"

"Well not while I'm alive," The Doctor said menacingly.

"Then live now more…"

"We're going to die here…" Aliya said softly, "After so little time together…"

"It's my fault, I brought you here, I'm sorry." The Doctor said, clasping her hand tight.

"Don't apologise, you stupid man," Aliya murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder, "We were just travelling, it's no one's fault."

"I've seen the fall of Troy, World War Five, we've pushed boxes at the Boston tea party, and now we're going to die, in a dungeon…in Cardiff." He sounded particularly horrified by the last word.

"Yeah, somehow I think that the rules of regeneration are a little different when the body is still being used…" Aliya guessed worriedly. "But if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down fighting. We'll do it together, won't we?"

"Of course we will," He said softly, looking at her with great sadness in his blue eyes.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her tightly, and she did the same. He kissed her hair and they stayed like that for nearly half a minute before pulling away and turning to face the Gelth with their hands clasped tighter than ever before.

"Doctor, Doctor, turn off the flame, turn up the gas!" Charles Dickens said as he ran into the room.

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Aliya set the ship into motion after take-off from Cardiff, so that it was peacefully orbiting Earth, and smiled at each other.<p>

"Alright, what now?" The Doctor wondered excitedly before getting a random idea. "You know what I feel like? A banana. All this saving the world business makes me hungry. Or, maybe, a banana split…do you fancy a banana split?"

"What's a banana split?" Aliya asked blankly, raising an eyebrow and looking at him like he was crazy.

"You're about to find out." The Doctor grinned and took her hand before pulling her through the corridor towards the kitchen.

While the Doctor made the banana splits (something he did with incredible precision), Aliya sat the counter and pulled out her decorative flower headpiece, and pulled out the pins holding up her hair. Her short golden curls tumbled down and she breathed a faint sigh of relief.

The Doctor shot a look at her. "What did you do that for?"

"It was getting uncomfortable…" Aliya shrugged.

"It looked nice, showed off the neck," He complimented, and she smiled, lifting her eyebrows slightly.

"Sounds like you were looking," She teased, fiddling with the hair pins in her hand.

"Maybe I was…there's nothing wrong with that," The Doctor said cheekily, grinning at her. "There you go, one banana split." He pushed a glass dish with ice cream, banana, cherries and chocolate sauce in it towards her. He began to eat his own happily.

She warily tried some, and was not disappointed. "Thanks, it's good."

"Of course it's good, I made it," He said arrogantly.

"You're so full of it…" She rolled her eyes and spooned a large amount of ice-cream and chocolate sauce up before putting it in her mouth. "Mmm…."

The Doctor looked at her and tried not to laugh; she had managed to get a bit of ice-cream and chocolate sauce above her lip, and was completely oblivious.

"What?" Aliya asked worriedly when she saw his expression. "What is it?"

"You've missed a bit, but don't worry, I'll get it," He said cheerily, "Just lean a bit closer."

She leaned forward over the counter towards him, and he did the same. Before she could register his actions, he kissed her top lip, cleaning the food off her in the process. When he pulled away they both laughed heartily.

"Now _that, _tastes good," The Doctor said contently before going back to his sundae. His blue eyes flicked up to look at her, twinkling with merriment. "And the ice cream wasn't bad either."

Aliya didn't know whether to blush or laugh, and in the end involuntarily did both simultaneously, her cheeks pink as she chuckled.

They ended up feeding each other playfully, and at one point he even purposefully put a dollop of chocolate sauce on the round tip of her nose just so that he could 'clean' her again.

"You know," Aliya said thoughtfully as she went to give the banana on the spoon in her hand to the Doctor, before moving it away at the last second and eating it herself, much to his obvious disappointment, "I think I rather like banana splits."

The Doctor grinned triumphantly as he ate the last cherry.

"Fantastic."


	4. Judgement, Slitheen, Love and Fear

**This chapter covers the Aliens of London/World War Three, and also has the return of Rose, Jackie and Mickey.**

**Also...there is a lot of Doctor/Aliya goodness in this chapter. And we get to see the Doctor's room!**

* * *

><p>Aliya searched through racks of clothes in the London store, and dumped any that she liked on the Doctor, who didn't stop complaining the entire time. He watched impatiently outside her dressing room cubicle as she tried the different items of clothing on, showing off every single one for him.<p>

"Yes, you look lovely," He said in a bored tone, "But can you hurry up? We haven't got all day."

Aliya came out of the cubicle wearing a very short and tight teal dress. "What do you think of this one…?" She frowned at her reflection before looking at the Doctor expectantly.

The leather clad man was gaping at her. "You..." He tried to say but failed. The blonde woman tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"What? Is it..._oh._" A strangely satisfied grin spread across her face as realisation hit her. Aliya approached him with an amused smile and put her hand under his chin before closing his open mouth.

"What do you know; I finally found a way to stop you complaining. You are _such a man_!" She said with amused surprise.

"Excuse me, I am not some hormone ridden ape that-" The Doctor began to protest indignantly.

Aliya gave him a coy smile, a teasing glint in her eyes as she stood in the doorway of her cubicle. "Of course not, you'd never want to come in here with me and-" The Doctor saw the invitation and she had no need to finish her sentence as he purposefully pushed her further into the cubicle so that he could follow and lock the door.

"Tempting me? Never a good idea." The Doctor said firmly. In the small space they were very close to each other, and the large amount of clothes hung up on the sides did nothing to make the space bigger.

"So you don't like the dress?" Aliya deducted in a falsely serious tone while trying not to grin.

"I think I like it a little too much, if you catch my drift," He replied as he swept his eyes over it again. He shifted a little closer.

"Good…you had me worried there for a second." Aliya joked.

"But I would rather if you didn't buy that or anything like it, if it's all the same to you." He said with unusual cheer.

"Why not?"

"Don't want anyone else looking at you, remember? That dress doesn't leave anything to the imagination," He said.

"Oh, and it's Jealous Doctor, out to play again." Aliya pouted and wound her arms around his neck. "Perhaps you need reminding of how ridiculous he is…"

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him softly. His hands gently wound around her waist as he backed her up against the wall of the stall.

The kiss deepened immediately and her fingers caressed his head through his very short hair. The Doctor held her closer to him in response, but just as her hands began to wander down to massage his collarbone, he pulled away.

"Alright, point taken." He said with a cheerful grin as though nothing had happened. "You finish up, I'll be outside." He swaggered out of the cubicle, leaving Aliya leaning against the wall, breathing heavily and seeing stars. She eventually rolled her eyes and started getting changed back into her original clothing.

"Bastard," She muttered under her breath.

* * *

><p>In the end, their shopping trip was cut short.<p>

They had just left the store when a huge roar rang through the air, coming from above their heads. Along with every other person around them, the two Time Lords tilted their heads to the sky, where they saw a spaceship zooming.

"Ooh, I'd know that descent pattern anywhere…" Aliya murmured. The Doctor shot her a questioning look. "Crashing."

He chuckled. "So, are we off then?"

"Where, exactly?"

"To go see what's going on of course!" The Doctor said as though it were obvious, throwing her an exasperated look.

"More adventures?" Aliya teased with a playful roll of her eyes.

"Maybe." He said cheerily. "Maybe we'll just get to see history in the making. Maybe this is the day humans really find out they're not alone…"

"So then…how are we going to see what's going on when every human in the area is trying to get there too? TARDIS? I don't personally think that would be a brilliant plan. " Aliya frowned thoughtfully.

"No…with one spaceship already at the centre of attention, we hardly need to bring another one into it." The Doctor said.

"Exactly," Aliya agreed.

"But then what are we going to do?" The Doctor looked impatient, as Aliya knew waiting never had been, wasn't, and would never be his strong point.

"What about Rose?" Aliya suggested.

"Who?" He questioned vaguely while not really thinking about it, his own mind reeling with his own ideas.

"Blonde human girl who saved our alien butts from the Nestene…" Aliya reminded him patronisingly.

"Oh…_that _Rose…what about her?"

"Well, from what I've seen of all these humans, they always film stuff like this, don't they? She's bound to have a television, or whatever it is they use for that sort of thing." Aliya explained.

"Oh. Alright," The Doctor said unsurely.

They set off down the road back to the TARDIS, which would get them to the Powell Estate much faster than walking would.

* * *

><p>Rose Tyler heard the doorbell ring and she pulled herself off the couch and opened the door, only to reveal the man in the leather jacket and the blonde woman in the dark denim one.<p>

"Oh my god, it's you," She breathed, "It's really you, you're really here!"

"Yep, plain old us. How long's it been for you?" The Doctor asked casually, forgetting she knew nothing of time travel. Aliya elbowed him and he shot a glare her way as he rubbed his ribs soothingly. Rose looked confused by his words.

"What do you mean?"

"How long has it been… since you last saw us?" The Doctor looked impatient again already.

Rose looked at them weirdly. "A year…and a pretty long one. I thought you'd come back sooner, you see. But I suppose when you could be anywhere in space, this place might not look so interesting."

Aliya was about to reply when an older female voice came from inside the apartment.

"Rose? Who is it?" A middle-aged woman in a sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms came out towards the door.

"Oh, just some friends, they were the ones to get me involved with my travelling and that," Rose said dismissively before turning back to the two Time Lords. "D'ya want to come in?"

"Yes please." The Doctor grinned and went inside without further invitation. Aliya smiled at Rose and quickly followed, noticing the middle-aged woman who was clearly Rose's mother bustling out of the room with a strange look on her face.

"Did you come because of the spaceship?" The girl asked quickly.

"That's the one. We thought we might borrow your telly and have a look." The Doctor sat down on the couch as if he owned the place and switched the TV onto the news channel.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until the police arrived ten minutes later that the Doctor realised they may have outstayed their welcome a little. Rose's mother Jackie had called the police when they arrived.<p>

"Mum! What have you done this for?" Rose asked Jackie in disbelief, while Aliya and the Doctor stood awkwardly on the side waiting for the questions to turn to them.

"Three months, you moped around, and all after that day when he showed up at our house. Then you disappear on me for six months, and all I got was the occasional phone-call, and all you would say is that you were travelling, studying something that 'a couple of friends had got you onto'. I want to know who the hell these two are, that they could have such a horrible effect on you! They had no right to ask you to do anything!" Jackie told Rose angrily, shooting glares at the Doctor and Aliya. "So I want them questioned, because I think you were travelling with these two, and I want to know who they are!"

That was how the policeman came to interrogating the Doctor and Aliya, who stood behind the chair Rose was sitting on, and the Doctor could see that Aliya was edgy at the idea of a mere human having so much authority over them in this place.

"How do you know Rose Tyler, sir?" The policeman asked.

"Well, I don't know her that well, really. We've only met a couple of times. The three of us got into a really tight spot, and Rose helped us get out. Brings you closer more quickly, that sort of thing," The Doctor explained.

"And when you say the three of us, you mean yourself, Rose and Aliya?" The officer confirmed.

"Yep. Aliya's my travelling companion," He said simply.

"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?"

Aliya's eyes widened at the forwardness of the question and found herself blushing. Were humans always so blunt about such private things?

"Not any of your business," The Doctor said. "When we met Rose, we offered for her to come travelling with us – and before you ask another stupid personal question, no, not in a sexual way – but she said no. So we took down her address in case we needed her again for whatever reason, and then we went on our way."

"I find that hard to believe," Jackie retorted angrily. "Because you, you waltz in here, all charm and smiles, and next thing I know, my Rose moping, everywhere, says she 'can't see the point' and then, just when I'm getting really desperate, she disappears! Like you didn't have something to do with that."

"We didn't!" Aliya argued, but Jackie wasn't done.

"And that's another thing. You and your younger girlfriend…does it make you feel young? How old are you, forty? Forty five? She can't even be twenty four, you're just about old enough to be her father!" Jackie turned to Aliya. "Did he find you on the internet? Tell you he's a doctor?"

The two Time Lords spoke at the same time.

"He is a Doctor!"

"I am a Doctor!"

"Prove it! Stitch this, mate." Jackie slapped him across the face, hard. The Doctor clutched his face and instinctively leaned into Aliya, who shoved Jackie backwards with a murderous expression.

"Don't you tempt me to slap you right back," She warned, before turning back the Doctor and gently touching him on the cheek where he now had a faint hand print.

* * *

><p>They were all in the living room, watching the news on television. The Doctor had claimed the seat nearest the television and Aliya had chosen to sit on his lap.<p>

"I had to wear this shirt today," She muttered, pulling at her yellow t-shirt uneasily. "Like I need to look any younger than I already do...Twenty four years old? It's ridiculous…"

"Look, I'm trying to watch, go complain about your stupid t-shirt to Rose if you have to, alright?" He retorted grumpily. She frowned but stopped talking.

"No need to be rude about it," she murmured, and he looked at her apologetically.

"Sorry."

"And I'm sorry for going on about it, okay? I know we're both on edge right now…"

"Tell me about it," The Doctor grumbled before looking back to the television.

The room began to gradually fill with more and more people, and the two people trying to watch the news intently found it hard to hear with all the unceasing chattering around them.

The Doctor – who had his arm around Aliya – found his right hand automatically finding its way to the small patch of skin on Aliya's lower back that had been revealed as her shirt had ridden up a little. His fingers gently brushed her skin, and she shivered from the touch, as it was a ticklish spot. She tried to hold in fits of laughter, and giggled under his relentless torture, wriggling on his lap like a worm. He quickly clasped his hand over her mouth and grinned at her.

She lent her head on his, as sitting on his lap gave her some height advantage, closing her eyes and enjoying the familiar closeness amidst a room full of alien strangers. Both of them could feel others in the room watching them occasionally, and they could sense the judgemental disapproval in the air. The Doctor kept a tight grip on her hand, not caring overly much.

When a tired mother arrived bearing an energetic toddler, Aliya had immediately volunteered to look after him, and held the child on her lap with her arms wrapped around him gently. She found that holding the child calmed her anger and discomfort considerably.

_Oh great, _She thought irritably, _this regeneration is maternal._

She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

When the child stole the remote off the Doctor and changed it to a cooking channel, Aliya giggled and apologised as she battled with the toddler for possession for it before handing it back to the Doctor. She laughed at the spaceship cake the man on the cooking show had made, though sobered a little when the news came back on. Still, she was a little disappointed when the Doctor sent the child off to his mother. And now without him, that left the Doctor's fingers on her back as her only distraction from the disapproving looks people kept sending at her, and while it was a good distraction, it was in view of almost everyone else, not helping the situation at all.

The Doctor got up to get them both a drink of water, leaving Aliya sitting awkwardly in his chair waiting for him to get back. She looked around to meet the eyes of a middle-aged woman with black hair, who then whispered something to Jackie, and the two of them shot her a dirty look before looking away and talking again.

Aliya looked away and bit her lip, deliberating for another moment before getting up from the chair abruptly and storming out of the room, and out of the apartment, rushing down the stairs with the aim of getting to the TARDIS.

Rose watched her go worriedly, but decided to wait and let the Doctor handle it first, then come in afterwards. The Doctor came back to the room with two large glasses of water, only to stop in confusion when he saw the chair empty.

"Where's Aliya?" He asked Jackie, who rolled her eyes at him rudely.

"Wouldn't you like to know," She replied with disdain.

"Mum!" Rose scolded her mother, and shot an apologetic look at the Doctor. "She went outside." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the door.

He put down the cups of water and ran down to the ground floor before racing across the paved ground to where he could see Aliya wandering near the TARDIS.

"Aliya!" He called out, and she turned her head back to look at him with mild surprise. "What are you doing out here? Too human in there for you?" Now only a few metres away, he could see her nod slowly. "I know the feeling," He agreed, "History just happened, and they're sitting in there, talking about where you can get dodgy top ups for half price!" He took another look at her downcast eyes. "But it's more than that, isn't it?"

Aliya bit her lip briefly. "They're just…so judgemental!" She aimed a kick at a puddle, spraying a few droplets on his pants. "How can you like them, when they look at us like that?"

"It's just different for them, that's all. They only get one body, one life, for them physical age is important, and they find it morally wrong for there to be a large age group between couples who are…sexually involved." The Doctor tried to explain, defending the humans despite his own feelings matching her own.

"They could still mind their own business," Aliya mumbled. "And we aren't… …_sexually __involved."_

"No, but we're close enough, and they tend to assume." He shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

He wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace, and while it started off innocent enough, his fingers once again found their way to her lower back, trailing along the edge of her t-shirt.

"You just can't keep your hands off me, can you?" She teased as she tilted her head up to look at him, closing her eyes for a brief moment at his touch.

"Off you? Never," He said with a grin before he kissed her fiercely. Her hands fisted in his jacket lapels and she pulled their bodies closer together. "Don't worry about what they think. You and me, here and now is what matters, not their stupid little human opinions that don't apply to us."

"I just feel like we'll never be free from judgement," Aliya said as they stopped for breath, "First the Time Lords, now these gossipy humans."

"They don't know anything," The Doctor said, kissing her again and backing her up against the TARDIS doors. "And certainly not anything about us."

"But-" She managed to wrench her mouth from his to stare at him, "Sometimes I'm not entirely sure that I know anything about us either."

There was only an inch or two between their faces – she was still squashed between him and the panels of the TARDIS. His lips quirked, and his clear blue eyes regarded her with tenderness and amusement.

"Sometimes it's more fun like that. The falling, no idea what's going to be at the bottom," He remarked.

"Falling? What kind of falling?"

He just held her gaze. "Like you don't know."

Aliya suddenly felt short of breath. "Oh," She managed to get out. "Well, yes, I suppose I've been falling for quite a while. I'm not sure that I'll ever stop."

"Good, because I wasn't looking forward to falling on my own."

It was the closest thing to a blatant statement of sentiment that she was ever going to get from him. She knew that when it came to feelings, words suddenly became the opposite of a strong point for him.

Besides, she could read between the lines. It didn't need saying.

But she had been hoping for some kind of confirmation for a while, and upon getting it, couldn't hold back. She pulled his mouth back to hers and kissed him with such a passion that it made her feel she should be embarrassed to be doing it in public, but in that moment couldn't bring herself to care.

She pulled away and her hands rose to cup his face, her different coloured eyes staring into his beautiful blue ones with obvious adoration and tenderness.

"I love you too. I never stopped," She whispered. Just because he couldn't say it, didn't mean that she had the same reservation. She knew that he could use all the love he could get, with how he was so used to ending up alone. She certainly had every intention of changing that.

He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her for all that they were worth. They clung to each other, just content with feeling the other person with them and being close to them. The Doctor had his face buried in her hair, and Aliya had her head resting against his shoulder, inhaling the warm scent of the leather.

"Now…how about we take a look at this alien body?" He suggested wryly, and as they pulled away, Aliya looked at him with eyes full of curiosity and interest. The two of them walked into the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>Mickey, upon turning up at the Tyler's council flat, was very quick to tell Rose, rather smugly, that the Doctor and Aliya had left, and she ran outside to see if it was true.<p>

Sure enough, the space where the blue box had once stood was now empty.

"Why would they just leave? I bet it was because of Mum, all her nagging…" Rose muttered, pacing a little.

"Nagging?"

"You know…about how they're together even though he's older…Mum and her friends don't like it, kept shooting 'em dirty looks. They might have just decided to be done with it." Rose shrugged.

"Yeah, but they're weird alien people, things like that might be completely normal to them!" Mickey said in confusion.

"Well…yeah, exactly."

"Rose?" Jackie's voice called from a distance, and they saw her heading towards them. "What are you doing out here? Why does it matter if those two have left? It's not like they're your best friends!"

"No, Mum, they're not, but I'm the only friend they've got here, so I'm going to look out for them," Rose defended.

Words were cut short as the sound of the TARDIS materialising rang though the air.

"Mum, go back inside…" Rose told her mother quickly, and she kept trying to urge her mother away, to no avail.

Jackie watched the TARDIS appear with wide eyes.

Rose mentally kicked herself for letting it happen and ran into the TARDIS to give the two Time Lords inside some warning.

"Hello Rose," The Doctor greeted cheerfully. "We went and had a look, the whole crash landing's a fake…" He continued to ramble, while Aliya saw the other two humans behind Rose and raised an eyebrow.

"Doctor…" She said quietly.

"What?"

Rose looked bashful. "My mum's here."

The Doctor looked behind and saw it was true. "Oh, that's just what I need. And now that I think about it, I think I have earned the right to do this: Jackie Tyler, get out of my TARDIS now!" He said firmly, his voice rising a little.

She flinched and quickly left, seeming rather glad to do so. Rose stared after her before looking at the Doctor and Aliya.

"I should probably go after her, check she's okay. I'll try and make her understand," Rose said, and walked out the doors, leaving Mickey alone with the two Time Lords.

"What was your name again?" Aliya asked the human man.

"Mickey," He replied uneasily, looking around the ship.

"What do you think about all this?" She inquired, gesturing towards the scanner which was showing the scene at the Thames with the spaceship. He peered at the screen.

"Are they invading? Because it's a funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert." Mickey pointed out, and Aliya nodded as she accepted his logic.

"Right…good point, Rickey." The Doctor admitted.

"Mickey!"

"Like I care."

* * *

><p>The three of them left the police box to find themselves immediately in a helicopter spotlight, and Mickey ran off, leaving the Doctor and Aliya with their hands raised.<p>

"Why are we being escorted to this Downing Street place?" Aliya asked as the car drove them there.

"Mickey was right, about when we talking about me working for UNIT, over the centuries I've visited this planet a lot of times-"

"And been exhiled here…" Aliya put in helpful, smirking at him.

"-and I've been noticed."

"Right…gathering alien experts, like they said on the news, and who would be a better export than you, an actual alien?" Aliya deducted, nodding.

When the car arrived, they got out at Downing Street to find cameras flashing everywhere, and Aliya blinked multiple times at the flashing lights, getting blinded by them, while the Doctor just soaked up all the attention.

* * *

><p>"Here's your ID card…I'm sorry, your companion doesn't have clearance." The man said, handing the Doctor an ID card and indicating to Aliya.<p>

"Clearance? I know almost as much as him-" Aliya protested, and the Doctor slapped his hand over her mouth before she could say anything that would get them in trouble.

"Where I go, she goes," He told the man, sending a glare at his friend.

"You're the Code 9, not her. I'm sorry, Doctor."

"Don't worry about it," Aliya said, her moment of indignance over, "Frankly, I'd probably just get completely exasperated with everyone in there anyway…I'll stay out here."

A woman in her late fifties appeared, trying to speak to the Doctor and then offering to look after Aliya when she was told she couldn't.

It wasn't until the Doctor had gone with the other alien experts and the two women had gone through to a more secluded area that Harriet began confessing of what she had seen upstairs in the cabinet room, of aliens committing murder right in the cabinet room itself.

They quickly went upstairs, where Harriet showed Aliya the suit and explained what the aliens had used it for, but becoming upset as she talked.

"It's alright, we're going to find the aliens that did this and stop them." Aliya assured her. The two of them went upstairs and Harriet showed Aliya the skin suit that the aliens had used, explained what had happened.

Aliya ran her hands over it, a little disturbed by what she was doing. She said nothing, trying to think if she knew any species which did anything like this.

"You do believe me, don't you?" Harriet asked worriedly when Aliya said nothing.

The blonde woman looked at her. "Of course."

* * *

><p>"Such fun. Little human children…where are you?" The Slitheen said, as she scoped out the room slowly.<p>

Aliya and Harriet were hiding in separate spots, both trying not to breathe too heavily as the suspense caught up with them. The creature continued to monologue a little, taunting them all the while.

Then the Slitheen was joined by two more, her 'brothers'.

"I can smell an old girl…" One of them said gleefully. "Stale, and brittle bones. "And the other…more than I thought, not even human, more than a mere ape…with a smell so rare…running off adrenaline and euphoria. What is it that has made her so happy, I wonder?"

Harriet frowned at both the insult to herself and their words about Aliya, making her out to be non-human when she clearly was, though, if the Slitheen were anything to go by, perhaps it was possible for aliens to look human, at least some of the time? And really, what would she know?

"I wonder how long it would take for her to snap…" The Slitheen continued, but just as it pulled back the curtain to reveal Aliya, Harriet burst out of her own hiding spot.

"No! Take me first!" She declared, throwing her arms up in the air.

The Doctor then chose that moment to conveniently turn up with a fire extinguisher. "Out, with me!" He called as he sprayed them. Aliya pulled down the curtain on the Slitheen before rushing over to the Doctor, who looked at Harriet and exclaimed, "Who the hell are you?"

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North." She replied automatically.

"Nice to meet you!"

"Likewise!"

The Doctor gave one last spray before the three of them ran out of the room. They made it into the Cabinet room, and just as the Slitheen were about to enter, the Doctor grabbed a flask of alcohol and held his sonic up to it.

"One more move, and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Woof! We all go up! So back off." He bluffed, and it took all of Aliya's self-control not to laugh. He grinned when the Slitheen did as he said. "Right, now. Question time. Who are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens!" Harriet said urgently. He turned around to roll his eyes at her, exasperated.

"Yes, I got that, thanks."

"Who are you two, if you not human?" One of the Slitheen countered.

"Who's not human?" Harriet asked, thinking of the words the Slitheen had said while hunting.

"We're not human." Aliya replied simply.

Harriet raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're not human?"

"Can I have a bit of hush?" The Doctor asked.

"Sorry," Harriet said quickly before turning to Aliya and lowering her voice. "But he has a Northern accent, and you sound like a Londoner."

"Lots of planets have a north, and frankly, it's all luck of the draw," Aliya replied. Harriet frowned.

"I said, hush." He told them again, then turned back to the Slitheen. "Come on! You've got a spaceship hidden in the North sea, you're transmitting a signal, you've murdered your way to the top of government, what for? Invasion?"

"Why would we invade this godforsaken rock?" One of the Slitheen retorted.

"Well something has brought the Slitheen race here, what is it?"

Aliya frowned. "No, Doctor, the Slitheen are a family!" The Slitheen which had tried to attack her and Harriet in the cabinet room earlier had referred to itself as 'a member of the Slitheen family' when she had asked it to identify itself.

"She is correct, Slitheen is not our species, it is our surname! Jocrassa Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, at your service." The one on the right agreed.

"So you're a family."

"The family business."

"Then you're out to make a profit! How can you do that on a god-forsaken rock?"

"Ah…your device will do what, exactly?" The Slitheen on the left said slowly, and the two Time Lords both knew that the Doctor's bluff was discovered.

"That's it." The Doctor answered weakly.

"You're making it up!"

"Oh well, nice try!" The Doctor passed the alcohol back to Aliya behind him. He then proceeded to ramble on about the history of the cabinet war room, and eventually pressed a button, and steel traps closed over the doors of the room, trapping the Slitheen on the other side.

"I am so glad that you know so much about this planet," Aliya said with a sigh of relief.

"See? I knew you would eventually!" The Doctor grinned, and kissed her forehead quickly. "That's for not getting yourself killed."

* * *

><p>"I suppose it's a good thing that the Prime Minister was so skinny…" Aliya speculated.<p>

"Why?" Harriet asked.

"Because otherwise the Slitheen would have been able to use his body as a suit – they need big ones, you see, because they are so huge – and they would have been in control too early, we wouldn't have gotten here in time," Aliya explained.

"We would have been swanning off, oblivious to the world ending," The Doctor said, nodding.

"Maybe we would have had another lot of banana splits," She considered, grinning.

"Definitely for the best then, that could have led to us getting a bit distracted."

"I happen to be very fond of that kind of distraction," Aliya said, eyeing him with mischief in her eyes.

"Excuse me, people are dead, this is not the time to be making jokes!" Harriet protested, and Aliya looked bashful.

"Sorry," She apologised, but looked up and caught the Doctor cheekily grinning at her, and smirked back, "You get used to this sort of adventure and danger when you're friends with him."

"Well that's a strange friendship," Harriet exclaimed. "And by the sounds of it, more than a friendship. Forgive me for asking, but are the two of you a couple?"

Aliya shot an unsure look at the Doctor, who gave a small nod. "Yes, I suppose we are," She said.

"Oh," Harriet said mildly, not sounding surprised, merely thoughtful. She did not appear to be bothered by the information, something that made Aliya like her intensely. She was completely out of tolerance for judgement humans, and Harriet was a lovely piece of fresh air.

Aliya's phone beeped, and she pulled it out of her jeans pocket. "It's Rose," She told the Doctor.

"Look, can you tell her we're busy-" He replied impatiently.

"No, Doctor, look!" Aliya held up the picture on the screen, showing the Doctor the Slitheen covered in the electricity.

She quickly rang Rose.

"We're sealed off, how did you get a signal?" Harriet inquired in confusion.

"He gave it a sonic upgrade," Aliya replied.

"It looks more sophisticated than anything I have ever seen…is it alien, from your world?" Harriet asked unsurely, the idea of the people she was with being alien still not quite fitting inside her head.

"Nope, it's from Earth." Aliya said.

"But it looks like nothing I've ever seen!"

"23rd century Earth!" Aliya retorted, and Harriet's frown returned. "Don't ask," the Time Lady added.

She then started talking to Rose, asking if the three of them were alright, but then the Doctor snatched the phone and began talking Mickey through getting onto the UNIT server.

* * *

><p>The three of them listened to the three humans preparing to be attacked by the Slitheen policeman.<p>

"Doctor, that's our friend, they are innocent people, we have to do something!" Aliya said urgently.

"Right, if we're going to find their weakness, we've got to figure out where they're from, which planet. Right, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to about 5,000 planets within travelling distance, what else? Information!" The Doctor said.

"Green, incredible sense of smell, they can smell adrenaline and species, and even euphoria!" Aliya relayed.

"Narrows it down!"

"The pig technology!" Harriet put in.

"The slip stream engine…" Aliya said.

"Narrows it down…"

"Ritualistic hunting!"

"Narrows it down!"

Harriet pitched in the idea about farts, and Aliya and the Doctor both shouted at the same time, "Calcium decay!"

The Doctor kept going, when finally the information he had was enough.

"That narrows it down to one planet!" He exclaimed, and Aliya's eyes widened as she realised that he had the answer.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius!" The Doctor exclaimed, and Aliya grinned. The Doctor coached Rose and Jackie through using vinegar as a weapon, and there were cheers on the other end of the phone.

* * *

><p>"If we could just get out of here!" Aliya said in frustration, kicking the table.<p>

"There's a way out," The Doctor said suddenly, his voice quiet. "There's always been a way out."

"What? Then we need to use it!" She retorted angrily, walking over to him.

"No!" The Doctor said too quickly, raising his voice, his face staring down at her with a dangerous spark of defiance in his blue eyes.

"Why not?" Aliya challenged. "Give me one good reason why the hell not!"

"Because I won't be able to guarantee that you'll be safe!" He shouted, his face inches from hers.

Aliya's facial features twisted into an angry mask. "How dare you? How dare you even _think _about putting me before an entire planet?"

"I can't lose you!" The Doctor yelled desperately, his facial features dropping a little as his expression turned to one of defeat. "I just can't." His voice was now a whisper. "Not again. I won't risk it, not for anything."

"If you don't risk it, everyone will die!" Aliya argued.

"You don't even know what it is, and you just let me," He said softly.

"I trust you, Doctor," She replied simply.

"I know…" He said sadly, "And I'm afraid that maybe one day it's going to kill you. But this is my life, it's always been my life, it's standing up and making a decision, because no one else will. I could save the world, but lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Aliya said, her eyes locked with his.

"But how can I live, knowing that I made a decision that put you in mortal danger?" He asked.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor, it's mine," Harriet interrupted. "I'm the only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it."

The Doctor closed his eyes momentarily, and when they opened again, his face split into a large grin, one which Aliya immediately mirrored.

He began talking to Mickey again, this time instructing him on how to launch a nuclear missile.

* * *

><p>The door of the steel bunker fell open and Harriet stepped out, followed by the two aliens.<p>

The Doctor and Aliya shared a huge grin, and before any words could be exchanged, he picked her up in a tight hug and swung her around gleefully, kissing her forehead as he put her down.

A soldier came up to check if they were alright, and Harriet took charge, handling it brilliantly.

* * *

><p>The Doctor stood by the TARDIS, watching the young boy scrubbing off the words 'Bad Angel' from the panels.<p>

"Good, graffiti that again and I'll have you, okay?" He said, and the boy nodded before running off with his bucket. At that point, Aliya and Rose arrived, chatting, though they stopped when they reached the Doctor.

"Guess you'll be off again," Rose said, staring at the box with admiration.

"Yep." The Doctor said happily. He shot her a look. "The offer still stands, you could come with us. And it travels in time as well."

Rose's eyes widened, and she placed her hand on the wood. "Wow…" The temptation in her eyes was obvious. "I would love to so much…but I can't. I just…can't. I've got this new job lined up, and there's…well…_someone _new in the picture – Mickey and me were over ages ago, you see – and I can't leave. Especially not after the Slitheen. You might not always be here, Doctor. What if something happens and you're not here, and some other aliens attack us? I may not know a lot, but I could at least try."

"Well, we can't argue with that," Aliya said with a smile. "A nice normal life. The sort of thing we could never have."

"I don't know if fighting aliens is normal," Rose chuckled. "Mind you, my boyfriend might disagree." The two Time Lords gave her a very similar inquiring look. "Those UNIT people, he works for them, that's sort of how Mickey knew about you. But yeah, Ian reckons that once I've finished getting my A Levels, that I could get a job with them too."

"I could put in a good word for you, if you like," The Doctor offered, "They'd listen to me, I used to be quite important back in day at old UNIT."

"I know," Rose said, smiling, "Ian said that his granddad worked with you."

He lifted an eyebrow. "What's your boyfriend's full name?"

"Ian Benton," The girl said, and the Doctor's eyes lit up.

"Good old Benton!" He exclaimed, making Rose grin. "Good to know that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Did he say how his granddad was doing?"

"Yeah, good, I think. I can ask for details and get back to you."

"Tell you what, Rose Tyler, next time we turn up, just bring this boyfriend of yours along. I'd like to meet him," The Doctor suggested, and got a nod for an answer.

"Sounds great. I better be off. You two go and save a few other worlds!" She headed back towards the flat, waving at them as they got into the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>"By the way, there was one thing I have been meaning to ask you," The Doctor said casually as he manuevered the TARDIS through the vortex.<p>

"What?" Aliya asked from her lounging position on the jump seat, watching him pilot with rare grace.

"You said that the Slitheen could smell euphoria," He said. "How did you know that?"

She shrugged. "Because one of them smelt it on me."

"Why are you euphoric while being chased by Slitheen?" He asked curiously.

"Because I'm travelling with you, seeing beautiful things, and it was only an hour or so after you told me…what I was hoping to hear," Aliya explained quietly, her eyes meeting his. "How could I not be?"

The corner of his mouth quirked. "You were about to be killed by a giant green monster."

"No, I wasn't," She said, getting off the jump seat, "I was _not _about to die there. I would have fought tooth and nail."

"Good to know."

"What do you expect? I still have a lot of things in the universe which I need to experience."

"Such as?" He lifted an eyebrow. She just smiled coyly.

"Well…" Her hand reached out to touch the leather of his jacket at the same time that she stared up at him with mischief. "I haven't had my wicked way with you yet. Not in these bodies."

That made him grin, a familiar glint returning to his eyes. "Oh really? What makes you think that I won't be having my way with you?"

"Because I have much better self-control." It wasn't strictly true, but she wasn't about to let him know just how his kisses and hands turned her body, brain and insides to mush.

"Prove it," He challenged. So she stretched up on her toes and took his face in her hands so that she could kiss him deeply, tilting his head down to hers. His arms settled on the small curve of her waist and pulled her in just a little closer.

But he wasn't one to relinquish dominance for long, and soon moved his hands to close around hers and shift them to his neck so that he could hook his under her legs and pull them apart to hitch them over his hips. He felt her go quite still, and he broke the kiss, though kept a tight hold on her.

"Sorry," He said, but she shook her head and gave him a tiny smile which took him by surprise. "This okay?"

She nodded. "Being taken off the ground just took me by surprise." She kissed him again, and he flipped them so that she was sitting on the console. Much easier, and now his hands were free to go wherever they liked. As it happened, where they liked to go was the base of her neck, where he took control of the kiss and deepened it, kissing her with the need and hunger that was starting to get very difficult to control around her at any given time.

Knowing that she was just there, all the time, just a few layers of clothes and – if they were so inclined – less than a minute away from being _his_. It was certainly a constant test of self-control, but one that he liked to think built character. Besides, they were still on slightly uneven footing. And he wanted them to be completely grounded before they crossed that last barrier.

In the meantime, prolonged periods of kissing did very nicely. So long as they didn't go so long that they threatened to go too far.

They parted somewhat mutually, and just stayed where they were, with her sitting on the edge of the TARDIS console, her legs around his waist and him practically standing between them.

"I could get used to this," She said, softly, sounding almost dazed, "Not that I want to, or think I will."

"I hope not."

"So, I think that we just managed to prove that neither of us really have any self-control," Aliya said with a small laugh.

"We stopped, didn't we?" He asked, grinning.

"True," She admitted, and hesitated for a moment before adding, "Do you ever wonder what we're…waiting for?"

The Doctor considered it for a moment. "Not sure. I think…we'll just know."

She nodded slowly, and suddenly remember something else that could be important to mention. "Actually, I meant to tell you earlier, but…I've been having trouble sleeping."

"What do you mean? Why?" He asked. Because they were still so close, his eyes searched hers for a moment before his hand took out the sonic, as if to scan her. She just pushed it away.

Embarrassed flickered across her features. "This is going to sound ridiculous…but I'm afraid of the dark."

He frowned, not comprehending it. "Since when?" He sounded as though he didn't quite believe her.

"Since the mountain…it was so dark in there, so dark and so silent for so long…it's in there, in my brain, and when I close my eyes all I see is darkness…and it terrifies me. I tried to fight it, I really have…but can't bear it for more than twenty seconds. I just…want to start screaming," She whispered fearfully. "Which means that I can't sleep, because you have to shut your eyes to do so."

"Really?"

She nodded slowly.

"Well, we'll have to find something to fix it, won't we?" He said cheerfully, taking her hands in his. "We can't have you not sleeping because you're afraid to close your eyes."

"But the thing is, that obviously when I'm kissing you, my eyes are shut. But I'm not scared then." She paused, still unsure how to ask her next question. "So…I was wondering if we could see what happened if I tried to sleep while I was next to you."

"That could work," He considered, "I sleep with the light on anyway…keeps away the bad dreams." He smiled, his eyes joking, but Aliya could see a hint of something more behind the humour. He was haunted by so many things, she knew that…the Time War, the death of Romana, and probably still the death of some of his companions as well…she knew that Adric's death had left a permanent mark on his Fifth self. "Alright, get into something more comfy and meet me back here then, and…I guess you'll be seeing my room."

He took a few steps back so give her some space to move, only to pause and take a few seconds to appreciate the sight of her sitting on the console in her jeans and yellow t-shirt, her hands having come to fold over each other on the edge of the controls in the space between her open knees. Her short hair was a little mussed and she was just dishevelled enough for him to smirk with satisfaction – after all, it was all his doing.

She just gave him a funny grin, having guessed his line of thought, and hopped off the console to go to the wardrobe. She browsed for a few minutes before eventually picking a loose t-shirt and cotton pajama bottoms. She returned to the console room to find the Doctor waiting there, in the same clothes that she had left him in.

He took one look at her and just sighed. "Are you trying to kill me?"

She looked down at her mostly exposed legs and shrugged. "Sorry, didn't have any Gallifreyan nightdresses handy. Wish I did, this stuff is scratchy."

He just shook his head and smiled fondly. "Come on, then." He nodded towards the corridor and started walking. She followed, but was unable to keep in her flirting as she did so.

"Is there where you take me to bed?" She asked him cheekily from several metres behind, making him turn around and give her a _look_.

"Don't tempt me," He retorted. She just smirked, pleased with the reaction, and followed him silently for the rest of the way, which involved an obscene amount of turns and corners. He clearly liked his room to be very private indeed.

Finally, they came to a door that read 'Doctor' on the front with the bold, arrogant handwriting that Aliya recognised from the later stages of his first incarnation. "This is it…I haven't let anyone in here for centuries…I think you were the last, actually." He pushed open the door, and Aliya stepped inside, awed by the fact that it was both so similar to how it had been the last time she had been in it in, and how much it had changed over the centuries.

The room was not very big, and every wall was lined with bookshelves – all of which were stuffed to bursting point with books, even the wall his bed was pressed up against. The place was cluttered, random objects such as old sonic screwdrivers, chunks of alien rock, some kind of whistle…and Aliya could swear that she could see a miniature clay model of what looked like a Zygon. The small light source of the room was a battered looking lamp which was near his bed, sitting on top of a large pile of books.

On a bookshelf near his bed, Aliya could see a very old and dusty picture of herself and him, when they were both in the early stages of their first incarnations, and so blissfully and ignorantly in love that the horrors of the universe were invisible to them. In the picture they were laughing, and Aliya's hearts ached for those easier days. Those teenagers had not had any idea of the heartbreak and fallout that lay ahead of them.

"So, what do you think?" The Doctor asked unsurely.

"I think that it's very you," She replied simply. "And it still...feels like your room."

The Doctor eyed the large double bed in the room, before pulled back the covers and indicating for her to climb in. She did so, and then watched as the Doctor removed his jacket, and then his jumper. She made no effort to disguise the fact that she was unabashedly watching from where she was sat up, leaning against the headboard.

His blue eyes flicked to her. "Enjoying the show?"

She just grinned. "Don't let me interrupt."

He grinned as well, amused by her boldness, and kicked off his shoes so that he could unbutton his jeans and slip out of them, leaving him in dark, plain boxers. When he looked back up, her eyes were still on him, drinking in the sight.

"This okay? I can put on some-"

"It's fine," She said, not flirtatiously, but just sincerely. Then it shifted and she was back to looking at him with mischief and appreciation. "And I'm getting a nice view."

The Doctor wanted to make her falter. "Just as well I'm not in my usual sleep gear, then," He said casually as he got into the bed next to her.

"Which would be what?"

"Nothing at all."

Sure enough, he succeeded in making her turn the tiniest bit pink. Her eyes darkened a fraction and he didn't miss the sharp intake of breath.

"Probably for the best," She managed to say after a few seconds, her bravado back, "Or else it would have been far too easy for me to seduce you in the middle of the night." She settled down properly into the bed and lay her head on the pillow. "As it is, I think I'll be able to restrain myself."

"That makes one of us," He muttered, making her smile to herself. He also got under the covers. He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. "Hopefully this is close enough that you can sleep."

"Thank you," She whispered, meaning it.

"You're very welcome."


	5. Point of No Return

Aliya found herself blearily becoming aware of consciousness as it began to resume dominion over her brain once more. She blinked several times before opening her eyes and seeing beautiful blue irises only a few inches away.

"Good morning," He said with a wide grin. Her lips twitched upwards as she blinked again, trying to shake off the drowsiness.

"Morning," She replied, yawning and propping herself up on her elbow.

"Sleep well?"

"Very. You?"

"Like a log."

Aliya snorted in amusement and scanned his face. He seemed to be in one of his lighter moods, there was no trace of the deeply ingrained sorrow that often haunted his features. She found herself smiling because of it, more cheerful because he was.

"What?" The Doctor asked with a slight frown. "Is there something on my face?"

"No," She said, giggling a little, "I'm just happy. Enjoying the moment. Last time, you weren't here when I woke up." Their minds both went back to that time, and the Doctor felt a small surge of guilt hit him.

"I couldn't stay, you know what would have happened if someone had found me there. And from what you've told me, whoever trapped you in that mountain may not have done so if I had been there. It may have saved your life," The Doctor reminded her.

"I know," Aliya said sincerely, "I'm just enjoying it now, that's all."

"Well, so am I." The Doctor agreed, his fingers reaching out to brush a strand of hair out of her face. "Woken up alone too many times in my life, me." He smiled tenderly, and then looked up at her hair and properly saw it for the first time. A huge smirk broke out on his face, and it was obvious that he was trying to hold back a laugh.

Aliya frowned. "What?" He said nothing, his grin just grew in size, his eyes playful and amused. "What is it?" She scowled at him. "Tell me!"

"Nothing…just, nice hair, that's all." He shrugged, not quite able to keep a straight face. He watched in amusement as she quickly swung herself out of bed and walked over to the full length mirror that was propped up against the bookshelf.

"Oh, for the love of Rassilon!" She exclaimed, halfway between exasperation and irritation.

What were usually reasonably elegant curls had transformed overnight into a fuzz of golden fluff that stuck out around her head at every angle.

"Is this a usual morning occurrence for you?" He asked curiously.

"No! I mean…I don't know." She sighed. He got out of bed and came up behind her so that his head was visible in the mirror over her shoulder, still grinning a smirk that was irritating his blonde friend a lot.

"Almost looks like a halo," He noted casually, eyeing it. "Fitting, considering."

"Oh, shut up, enough of the title jabs," She muttered, running a hand through the fuzz. "Huh…it's not even that knotted, just very…fluffy. I look ridiculous."

"Nothing wrong with ridiculous."

She looked up at the Doctor. "Nothing except that my pride and dignity has been tarnished," She said seriously, but her joking grin could not be contained, and they chuckled in unison.

"Alright you, best you go and find a hairbrush to tame our resident dust bunny-"

"Hey! Just because I don't know what that is, doesn't mean that I don't get the gist!"

"And meanwhile, I can get dressed. Hold on, there's a thought. Do you have a bedroom?" The Doctor frowned, realising that he hadn't even thought about it.

"No," Aliya said as she made for the door, "The TARDIS hasn't made me one, and it's not like I was sleeping anyway. I just went to the library, and read books."

"All that time, and you were just in the library?" He looked almost worried by the thought, but she made a 'pft' noise and rolled her eyes. "Fine then, off you go, find that hairbrush that you so desperately need!" He pushed her out the door and pulled an almost mocking smile. She scowled in a way that both of them knew she didn't really mean and walked away down the corridor, muttering about 'dust bunnies'.

* * *

><p>"Aliya, come on, you've got to run faster!" The Doctor urged her, pulling on her hand.<p>

"You try running in an alien ceremonial dress some time, and see how fast you are compared to someone only wearing a loincloth!" Aliya retorted irritably, pulling up the skirts of the feathered dress even further as her legs pumped harder.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder, seeing the alien religious mob chasing after them in the distance, their anger not diluted at all. They would never be able to outrun them, the TARDIS was too far away.

"Ali, we're going to have to hide and hope that they just run past, okay?" He said, and she nodded. He pulled her off the side of the gravel road, and they fell into the large ditch next to it, tumbling together through the mess of leaves and mud until they came to a halt at the bottom.

Their landing position was somewhat compromising, with Aliya landing on top of him, their chests pressed together, bare skin touching. Having been forced to participate in an alien worship ceremony, both had had to dress up, leaving Aliya in a long skirt and small top that only covered the essentials, leaving her stomach bare, and the Doctor in a loincloth, chest completely revealed. He had however managed to snatch his leather jacket on their escape run, but was still carrying it over his arm.

The Doctor grinned widely at their successful evasion technique, and reached and hand up to smear some of the mud off Aliya's face. She smiled and rested her head on his chest, relaxing after the large amount of running. The Doctor tilted her head up and kissed her gleefully, the cheerful victory kiss that was hardly anything new.

They broke apart with giant smiles on their faces, eyes staring into each other. Then he pulled her in once again, and this time when their lips met, there was a sense of urgency to it.

The Doctor rolled them over so that he was on top of her, and his hands began moving up her sides, caressing, stroking, feeling every inch of her torso. Her fingers ran down his back, feeling the muscles there.

The fire had always been there, waiting for them to create a spark powerful enough to ignite it. They were getting close, the sparks flaring with each second that passed, with each inch of skin explored…

The Doctor found his hand travelling up her right leg, sliding under the peacock skirt, but as it reached her thigh it suddenly came to a halt before abruptly pulling out underneath the skirt and returning to her waist at the same time that he broke the kiss, causing the Time Lady to stare at him with confusion in her eyes, looking as though she did not know whether to feel rejected or not. The Doctor sighed and rolled backwards so that she was resting gently on his chest again. Their raspy and uneven breathing was the only sound for thirty seconds, before she finally spoke.

"Why?" She did not sound sad, or angry, just curious.

"Not here. Not now," He said simply, gesturing slightly. "Not covered in leaves and mud, and lord knows what else. When we…" He trailed off, tucking a strand of mud-caked hair behind her ear, and while he didn't need to say the words, his meaning was clear, "I'm going to do it properly."

Aliya kissed him softly, just for a moment, to convey better in her actions what her words would struggle to do, to show understanding and gratitude.

"Do you think they've gone?" Aliya whispered after several minutes of just lying there.

"I should think so!" He said optimistically, helping her to her feet and pulling on his leather jacket, hiding a lot of the skin he had been showing. "Off we go," He said, helping her climb up before following behind, trying not to look up her skirt as he did so.

The two half dressed, mud-covered Time Lords set off down the road once more, laughing at themselves and the various leaves and branches stuck to them, and their laughter rang through the valley.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think that signal is?" Aliya said as she stepped out of the police box after the Doctor. They were in some strange room, large and full with no windows very few lights on. The place seemed abandoned. She tried to not let the dim room bother her too much.<p>

"I don't know, but it drew the TARDIS off course, and that's something," The Doctor replied vaguely.

"Is it?" Aliya teased, and he rolled his eyes.

"Very funny," He told her patronisingly.

"I aim to please, my lord," She did a mock curtsy, the kind done on Gallifrey at important events. "Where and when are we?"

"Earth, Utah, North America, 2012," He said as he peered inside one of the glass cabinets. "We're underground."

"Not so different from the usual, then, just less British," Aliya murmured, examining one also. Suddenly, the lights came on, revealing the size of the room and collection. "Wow…some kind of museum. For aliens!"

"Someone's got a hobby," The Doctor noted as they began to walk down the isle they were in. "They must have spent a fortune on this! Chunks of meteorite, moon dust…that's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship…"

"Stuffed Slitheen hand…" Aliya noted, taking a closer look and shuddering a little.

"Oh, look at you," The Doctor said in a strange awe. Aliya turned around to see him approaching a silver metal head, and she jumped a mile despite knowing that it wasn't alive.

"Doctor, that's a Cyberman head," Aliya said as she came to stand next to him. Memories of how the creatures had plagued the Game of Rassilon flung themselves at her. She shuddered.

"I know…the stuff of nightmares, reduced to an exhibit…" He turned to smile grimly at her. "Makes you feel old, doesn't it?" Aliya nodded silently, her eyes still on the head, but she backed away, unnerved by it.

"The signal has to have been coming from something alive…what do you think it is?" She said, purposefully looking away.

"Something reaching out, calling for help…" His fingers touched the glass and immediately alarms began to sound, armed soldiers rushing in before they could even realise what had happened.

"We're aliens in a museum of alien artefacts…why do I feel as though this is very bad?" Aliya said quietly, and the Doctor merely ground his teeth together and said nothing.

* * *

><p>They were led through many corridors to an office where a young man with a British accent was showing a small metal artefact to the older man sitting at the desk.<p>

"…these tubes on the side, I think they're to channel something, maybe fuel…" He was explaining, and the Doctor and Aliya both smirked, knowing how wrong he was.

"I really wouldn't hold it like that," The Doctor recommended, and the man looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut it!" A tall woman with red hair said to the Doctor.

"Really though, that's wrong."

"Is it dangerous?" The young man asked curiously.

"No, just looks silly," The Doctor said simply. He made to take the artefact, and every gun in the room loaded and aimed, only to stand down at a gesture from the older man, who was clearly in charge. He handed the small object to the Doctor, who cradled it in his hands. "You just need to be…delicate." The object began to make tuneful noises. Everyone in the room watched as his fingers gently grazed the surface of the instrument.

"It's a musical instrument!" The man said in wonder.

"And it's a long way from home," He said, handing it to Aliya. "You want to try?"

She took it in her hands and surveyed it. "I was never much good at the sensitive ones," Aliya murmured, but underneath her tiny finger movements, it sang, though not nearly as smoothly as it had for the Doctor.

"Doesn't sound too bad," The Doctor said as she handed it back to him.

"Yes, well, your ears are so big that some stuff is bound to get lost in there occasionally," Aliya retorted stubbornly, and the man at the desk and the Doctor both raised their eyebrows. The former reached his hand out for the instrument.

"Here, let me," He said as he took it out of the Time Lord's hands. The Doctor tried to give him advice, but sure enough, the instrument released the beautiful music once again.

"Very good," The Doctor noted, "Quite the expert."

"As are you," The man replied with a leering grin as he threw the instrument away carelessly without a second thought. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, who are you?"

"Like you don't know," The man said smugly. "We're hidden away in the most valuable collection of alien artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake."

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah," The Doctor said with a grin, knowing that it wasn't going to get him anywhere.

The man nodded as though he found it amusing. "Question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice. You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty." He said as he ran his eyes over the blonde woman as the Doctor watched, feeling mild protectiveness and jealousy spark for a moment, but felt it abide as his companion crossed her arms and glared at the human man.

"Who happens to have a name, not that you obviously care about that at all. Eyes off, okay?" She said simply.

"Who's English and feisty, hey, little Lord Fauntleroy, got you a girlfriend," The man continued, not looking put off by her biting comment, merely talking to the British young man again, who then spoke up.

"This is Henry van Statten," He said.

"Who is?" Aliya asked expectantly.

"Mr van Statten owns the internet." He replied, and both Time Lords raised their eyebrows.

"I thought nobody owned the internet," Aliya said unsurely.

"And that's what we want the whole world to keep thinking, right, kids?" Van Statten said.

"So you're obviously the expert in everything except for the things in your museum," The Doctor pointed out, "Anything you don't understand, you lock up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Henry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am," The Doctor replied calmly.

"And yet I captured you," Van Statten reminded him, the smug air having returned to his voice, "Right next to the Cage…what were you doing down there?"

"You tell me."

"The Cage contains my one living specimen."

"What's that?"

"Like you don't know."

"Show me."

"Want to see it?"

They were distracted from their word play by Aliya's quiet chuckle, and both turned to her with questioning looks.

"What's so funny?" Van Statten asked, clearly a little irritated but trying not to show it.

"You," She replied simply, smirking, "Trying to be more impressive than him."

Van Statten narrowed his eyes and then decidedly ignored her before turning to the red headed woman who worked for him.

"Goddard, inform the cage, we're heading down. English, look after the girl, go and canoodle, or spoon, or whatever it is that you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet." Henry instructed, and Aliya looked at the Doctor indignantly.

"Why do I have to stay here?" She asked with a frown.

"You're going to stay up here, and stay out of trouble, alright?" The Doctor told her firmly as he stepped into the lift with Van Statten.

"I'll stay out of trouble alright, you big eared ponce!" Aliya bit back, not happy at being left behind and treated like another stupid ape.

* * *

><p>Warily, the Doctor stepped into the cage of the so-called 'Metaltron'. The lights were off, so he couldn't see the thing, but considering the attitude of van Statten, he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to see what the man had done to it.<p>

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor," He told it apologetically.

The blue shining through the dark seemed to blink. "DOC-TOR?" An all too familiar, horrific robotic voice asked.

"Impossible."

"EX-TERM-IN-ATE! EX-TERM-IN-ATE!"

The Doctor pounded his fists on the door, absolute terror seizing him, "Let me out!"

"EX-TERM-IN-ATE! YOU ARE AN EN-E-MY OF THE DA-LEKS! YOU MUST BE DES-TROY-ED!" Its gun arm pointed at him, but didn't fire.

"It's not working." He saw that it was broken, and began to laugh. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"

"KEEP BACK!"

He came closer, just to go against its command. "What for? What're you going to do to me? If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing. What the hell are you here for?"

"I AM WAIT-ING FOR OR-DERS."

"What does that mean?"

"I AM A SOL-DIER. I WAS BRED TO RE-CEIVE OR-DERS."

"Well you're never going to get any. Not ever," The Time Lord all but whispered, shocked that the Dalek was so deluded.

"I DE-MAND OR-DERS!" It shrieked.

"They're never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one second."

"YOU LIE!"

"I watched it happen. I made it happen!" He shouted.

"YOU DES-TROYED US?"

"I had no choice." He turned around, unable to even look at it anymore.

"AND WHAT OF THE TIME LORDS?"

"Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

"AND THE CO-WARD SUR-VIVED."

"Oh, and I caught your little signal," The Doctor mocked. "Help me…poor little thing…but there's no one else coming, 'cause there's no one else left."

"I AM AL-ONE IN THE U-NI-VERSE," The Dalek said forlornly.

"Yep," The Doctor said with grim satisfaction.

"SO ARE YOU," It added. The Doctor felt his hearts deflate completely except for the one spark left in him. He spun back around.

"No, see, that's where you're wrong. There's one more, one stubborn little pain-in-the-butt Time Lady, which means that I'm not alone. Not ever. Even now, I can just sense her, in the back of my head," The Doctor said fiercely, his voice becoming deadly quiet. "And no one is ever going to touch her, because I've just realised what you deserve. Exterminate!" He grinned menacingly and grabbed the nearest weapon.

* * *

><p>"Sorry about the mess," Adam said as he and Aliya entered his workroom, the latter looking around with only slight interest. "Mr van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. Now, what do you think this is?" He held out a lump of metal. Aliya took it in her hands and sniffed it before running her finger along it and then licking her finger thoughtfully as he watched, perplexed.<p>

"Piece of spacecraft," She said smugly as she handed it back.

"I think it's from the Hubble one, yeah," Adam said warily, "Nice guess."

"Guess," she snorted.

"The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecrafts, aliens, visitors to Earth, they really exist!" He said earnestly.

Aliya cocked an eyebrow. "We're in a giant museum full of alien artefacts, and you feel like you need to tell me that they exist? How oblivious do I look? What do you even do, just sit here and catalogue everything?"

"Best job in the world!" He said.

"I think travelling through space and seeing all the life out there would probably be better," She said, privately feeling smug.

"Yeah, I'd give anything." He nodded. "I don't think it's even going to happen though, not in our lifetimes."

"No, I doubt it. But how did you end up here? Because you're English."

"Van Statten has agents all over the world, looking for geniuses to recruit." Adam said casually.

"You're a genius now?" Aliya asked curiously.

"Sorry, but yeah, I can't help it, I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged onto the US defence system, nearly caused World War Three." He said arrogantly.

"And I'm supposed to be impressed by that?" Aliya inquired.

"You should have been there, just to see them running about! Fantastic!" He said, looking pleased with himself. She had to laugh a little bit at that.

"Now you're talking like the Doctor," Aliya smiled despite wishing that she were in the Cage with him.

"Are you and him…" Adam asked, gesturing just enough to imply what he needed to.

"Yes," Aliya said quickly, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh," His eyes dropped.

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"No," He replied automatically, not seeming entirely truthful.

"Good. But wouldn't you rather be downstairs, where all the action is?" Aliya asked, hoping that she would be able to convince him to let her go down and join the Doctor.

"Well, he keeps it very quiet, but, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch onto the com system." He grinned at her.

"Can I see then? The creature?"

"It doesn't do much, the alien," He said as he began typing.

"Well, neither would I if I were captured by you lot," She muttered.

"It's weird, it's kind of useless, great big pepperpot…" He trailed off as the image came up.

It was very obviously a Dalek, in chains and being tortured. Aliya's jaw dropped and her hearts completely missed a bit as she went very still.

"No," She whispered, "That's impossible." And then her blood ran cold. She turned to Adam, a new fierceness in her eyes. "Take me there, now. The Doctor went down there, if he was allowed near it, it would have killed him on sight!" She stormed out of the room, pulling Adam by the hand, while confusion and slight fear showed on his face.

* * *

><p>"You talked about a war?" Diana mentioned. She, the Doctor and van Statten were in the elevator.<p>

"The Time War," The Doctor said, nodding, "The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived too," Henry put in.

"Not by choice," The Doctor said darkly.

Henry continued. "You and your little friend – I assume that's who you were referring to when you mentioned a 'Time Lady' to the Dalek?"

"Aliya, yes." He nodded.

"But that means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor, there's you two, the only ones of your kind in existence." He smiled in a way that the Doctor found troubling as he turned to Goddard. "Send for her."

* * *

><p>Aliya and Adam entered the cage, and Aliya burst in to face the Dalek. Its eyepiece swivelled to look at her curiously.<p>

"YOU ARE A TIME LORD," It said, and she merely continued to stare at it gravely.

"I had no idea," She said sarcastically. "Where is the Doctor?"

"THE DOC-TOR IS NOT HERE."

"Did you kill him?" Her voice became shaky, and her mind began thinking of a million ways that she could make the Dalek pay if it answered in the affirmative.

It said nothing for several moments, only stared at her.

"NO."

Aliya couldn't help a smile breaking out across her face, but was confused as to why it had not killed the Doctor. She saw upon examination that its weapons were broken. "A Dalek that cannot kill…" She said quietly, "Most pointless creature in the universe."

At that moment, several of the guards entered, led by Diana Goddard. Before she could say anything, the guards grabbed Aliya and began attempting to pull her out, their intention of capture clear.

"Let go of me!" She snarled, and kicked her legs in the struggle, accidentally hitting Adam backwards in the process. It did no good, within seconds they had dragged her out of the Cage.

Unknown to her, Adam fell back onto the Dalek, his hand print scorched onto the metal skin, and burning his own skin where the contact had been made.

That was when the Dalek woke up.

* * *

><p>The Doctor grudgingly took off his jacket and pullover, only doing so because of the half dozen guns pointed at him. When he saw Aliya being led in, he felt his anger grow.<p>

"You, girl-" Henry began, but Aliya whipped around to glare at him.

"I am over a thousand years old, I'm _not _a girl!" She spat, and he merely smirked.

"Whatever you are, get over there and take off your upper layers of clothing, just like him," He said dismissively, and Aliya was pushed to stand by the Doctor, who was looking at Van Statten with an enraged expression.

"Come on, Van Statten, making me undress is one thing, making her undress is another!" He said.

Van Statten smirked, running his eyes over Aliya once more and shrugging. "Undergarments, then. Any more fabric than that and it will interfere with the scan."

"You so much as look at her, and you'll be sorry," The Doctor threatened before turning to Aliya. "I'm sorry, I didn't know they would do this. Though I suppose it's hardly surprising."

Aliya nodded and pulled off her denim jacket and threw it on the floor next to his leather one. Then, with suddenly trembling hands, she began lifting her blouse up slowly, until it got stuck halfway up. Her eyes darted to his face, both panic and fear written across her features. She was staying strong, giving the appearance of fortitude around Van Statten, but now facing away from him and looking at the Doctor, he could see how much hatred and painful injustice was in her eyes.

"Here," He said gently, his hands replacing hers and slowly sliding the fabric up. She closed her eyes briefly at his touch, but tried to ignore it, as she knew it to be the wrong time.

"You know, whenever I would imagine you undressing me, I will admit that I never imagined it quite like this," Aliya murmured quietly, smiling wryly at him before he pulled the shirt over her head and cast it on the floor.

He cupped her face gently for a moment and gave her a momentarily kiss on the lips, and then the forehead. It was his way of trying to assure her that everything would be alright. And perhaps, just slightly, staking his claim in front of the other males in the room.

They approached Van Statten, waiting.

"Well, Doctor, your taste continues to impress me, blue lace, very nice," He commented on Aliya's undergarments, making the woman scowl and cross her arms over her chest.

The Doctor absently wondered why she was wearing a blue lace bra in the first place – she had always seemed practical, not the type to wear fancy, flimsy underwear.

"Strap them in," Van Statten commanded, and they were taken to different slanted platforms which they were then strapped to. Van Statten flicked a switch and the machine whirred into action, the red light scanning over their bodies.

It was very painful, and the Doctor cringed and managed to avoid making much noise. Aliya was less successful, and let out breathy gasp of pain along with tiny whimpers.

"Two hearts! Binary vascular system, oh, I am so going to patent this." Van Statten rubbed his hands together happily, momentarily stopping.

"So that's your secret, you don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it." The Doctor said, and he quickly directed his attention to Aliya, who was lying dejectedly against the metal grating, breathing heavily with her eyes shut. His eyes snapped back to Van Statten.

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries, all it took was the right mind to use it properly," The human man replied proudly. "Oh, the advances I have made from alien junk, you have no idea, Doc. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year, my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory, of course, there's no need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when you can sell a thousand palliatives?"

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" The Doctor interrupted. "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do, for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

"In that case, I will be true to myself, and continue," Henry said coldly, switching the scan on again. Aliya, who had been silent during their conversation, let out a cry of pain once more, and the Doctor felt his dislike for Henry van Statten begin to shift to something much closer to hate.

"Van Statten, please! You don't need to scan her, we're exactly the same! Let her go, it's hurting her!" He said urgently, shooting looks at the blonde woman.

"A male and female, of course there are differences…" Van Statten corrected, his eyes twinkling with malicious intent. "Perhaps I should make you breed. I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you, Doctor? Don't think I haven't noticed."

The Doctor very pointedly ignored that comment. "Van Statten, and you have to listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" He shouted.

"Nothing can escape the Cage," Henry said surely.

A few minutes later, the alarms blared, and a voice came through the coms, stating a Code Red. The Doctor looked up gravely.

"Release me if you want to live."

Van Statten complied immediately, and the two Time Lords were released. They hurried to pull their clothing back on, and the Doctor gripped her hand tightly for comfort, as there was no time for any other form of sentimentalities.

They ran into Van Statten's office, where they got the Cage through video link. Adam said it was his fault, he had accidentally touched the Dalek, and it had woken up.

"He'd touched my hand," Aliya recalled thoughtfully, "That's enough residual DNA of a time-traveller to restore it."

The humans were then told how dangerous the Dalek was, and as it began to escape the Cage, they all fled. The thing they saw before the screen went blank was the Dalek approaching it.

Next thing they knew, all the lights went down, causing Aliya to suddenly grip the Doctor's hand even tighter, a scared whimper escaping her lips. Luckily, the emergency power system kicked in. It was however revealed that the Dalek had absorbed the internet and the power supply of the entire West Coast of America.

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" Henry said angrily.

"Sir, it's killing them!" Goddard protested indignantly.

"They're dispensable, the Dalek is unique! I don't want a scratch on its body, do you hear me?" Van Statten commanded through the coms. The Doctor shot a look at Aliya, who was watching Van Statten with a look of pure hatred and cold pity in her eyes.

He had never seen her look so similar to the Time Lords, the people who acted righteous but were in reality cruel and selfish. It was unnerving.

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Aliya ran down the stairs, the former carrying the large gun that Adam had helped them acquire once he had escaped from the lower levels being sealed off. The Dalek was still trapped behind the door that had been the lockdown cut off, so all they had to do was open it and shoot. They approached the door, and used the coms to order the door to be open. As it slowly slid up, the Doctor raised the gun and aimed.<p>

"Time to do what I should have done the moment I saw it, what I should have done when I was given the choice to stop the Daleks from ever existing." He said darkly.

Finally the Dalek was revealed, but the Doctor couldn't bring himself to fire. His hands shook as he held the gun. The Dalek came forward, and pointed its gunstick at Aliya.

"LET ME PASS OR I WILL EX-TERM-IN-ATE THE WO-MAN YOU LOVE," It threatened, but the Doctor only gripped the gun tighter.

"I don't need to let you pass. I can kill you, right here, right now," He responded.

"YOU ARE THE DOC-TOR. RE-CORDS SHOW THAT YOU WILL SHOW MERCY," It said, and moved closer to Aliya. Just its presence made the room seem colder, and the tension was tangible.

"Well then, your records are out of date. I'm too old for mercy." The Doctor fired the gun and the beam shot through the air, hitting the Dalek full on and causing the entire top half to explode.

They stared at it for half a minute, processing that it was really dead.

The Doctor felt some strange kind of guilt surge through him, and he knew it was due to the fact that he had murdered a living being. But the knowledge that it had been a Dalek keep it at bay, no matter what a tiny part of him tried to protest.

Aliya hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back, not letting go for several minutes.

"It's over," The Doctor said softly. Aliya let out a nervous laugh of relief, and pressed herself against his shoulder, breathing in the smell of the leather as she loved to do.

The Dalek was dead, and the world was safe once more.

* * *

><p>The two Time Lords stood outside the police box, with the Doctor touching it rather tenderly.<p>

"You…don't think any others survived, do you? Any Daleks?" Aliya asked quietly, and he shook his head.

"That was just a one in a hundred billion chance, there's no way any more could have survived. I would know, I killed them all," He said bitterly. "How about that. I win."

Adam came running up to them. "We better get out," He said, "Van Statten's disappeared, they're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed. I'll have to go back home."

"Better hurry up, then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 1800 hours," The Doctor said after checking his watch.

"Goodbye, Adam," Aliya said with a smile, "Come on, Doctor, let's go." He unlocked the TARDIS and she went inside, waving goodbye to Adam.

"She said cement! Aliya, what are you doing hiding in a box?" The human boy asked.

"Goodbye Adam. Have a nice life," The Doctor said cheerily, before also going onto the box. Adam watched in wonder as it wheezed and disappeared right before his eyes.

* * *

><p>The Doctor found Aliya in the library, reading a book about Earthen geology, stretched out on the couch and not leaving any room for him. He pulled her feet up and sat down before placing her feet on his lap. She barely glanced at him before looking back at the page. Her jacket was hanging over the arm of the couch.<p>

"What rocks and earthquakes could be so interesting? I thought you thought Earth was boring," The Doctor said, and Aliya tore her eyes away from the book to smirk at him with a teasing glint in her eyes.

"I never said it was boring, I just thought that you were a little too obsessed with it, that's all. However, since you obviously aren't going to let it go any time soon, I thought perhaps I would have to learn to like it a lot too." She shrugged. "But I can only read this for so long." She put the book on the floor, and pulled her legs in before turning her body around so that it was her head that was resting on his lap.

His large fingers began stroking her hair, and she closed her eyes contently.

"Question," The Doctor said.

"Okay."

"Why the blue lace?"

A blush crept up her neck. "Oh. I was planning on surprising you later." She sighed and blew a strand of hair out of her face, the hot air hitting his fingers. "It didn't exactly work out how I planned."

"I like the sound of that surprise," He said wryly. His finger ran past her temple, and the tiny brush of his mind against hers made her go very still.

Time Lords had two sides to 'lovemaking'. The physical side, and the mental side. Over the course of their lives, the Doctor and Aliya had been together physically on a number of occasions, most of them one off scenarios.

But they had only scraped the surface of the mental side. Because while it was easy enough to touch minds, and they had done it several times, it wasn't enough. It wasn't what Time Lords had to the potential to do – which was have their minds connect completely, to be in the other's mind.

There was nothing in the universe more intimate than that. For that reason, it was very rare, because most Time Lords were too unfeeling or private to even consider it. Others would never find someone that they wanted to be close to. But for the few that did experience it, it was more than any physical act could ever hope to be.

And before, before the Time War, they had never been able to even hope for it. Their world was too tremulous, too restricting. Physical connection was desperation and need when they knew that it couldn't possibly last. Mental connection was a commitment.

One he had never been ready to make, and one she had never been ready to accept or even consider.

"I'm sorry-"

"No." Aliya sat up slowly and turned so that she would swing a leg over his, effectively straddling him. She put a finger to his lips. "Don't apologise. I liked it." She smiled. "You definitely deserve your surprise. Even if it's not really a surprise anymore." Her hands went to the bottom of her shirt and she pulled it over her head before throwing it over her head, letting it fall to the floor somewhere behind her.

Surprise flashed across the Doctor's features for a moment, before his hands came to rest on her waist, on the newly bared skin. And try as he might, he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering back to the blue lace, the blue lace that she had worn just for him.

"I got to see you in your underwear," She said, grinning, "I thought that maybe I could return some of the favour."

He grinned back, just letting his fingertips trace across the skin of her lower back, and then of her stomach. "Feel like I'm in one of my dirty dreams."

She laughed. "You have dirty dreams about me?"

"Maybe a little." He smirked. "Probably sounds silly, but I still find it hard to imagine you actually wanting me like this. This body of mine is so…daft."

"It's really not," Aliya said, her voice a fraction lower and her eyes a shade darker. She took his face in her hands so that she could kiss him soundly. His hands pulled in, pressing their bodies together in a way that made them both gasp, just a little. When they stopped for breath, she smiled at him. "Why did you touch my mind? Before?"

"Just…felt like it. Shouldn't have without asking, m'sorry," He said, rather sheepishly.

"Do you want to do it again?" She whispered. His eyes widened slightly, but his hand came up to rest by her ear.

"You sure?"

Aliya nodded. "I want to feel you." His hand touched her temple, and she could feel the soft, gentle sensation of his mind on hers. It was like being touched on the cheek. By the time that he broke the connection and both of them opened their eyes after reflexively shutting them, she was smiling.

"Bloody hell," He said, looking a little stunned. "That was-"

"Fantastic." At the use of his favourite word, he kissed her, hard. Her body again moulded to his as she kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm. "Absolutely fantastic." She laughed, rather giddily, before quickly becoming serious. "Oh Rassilon, I want-" She stared into the clear blue eyes that were watching her so intently. "I want that."

"This?" The Doctor asked, touching her temple again just for a moment, making her inhale sharply, and then nod.

"But not just like that," She said slowly, rather timidly, "I mean _fully_."

He blinked, rather shocked. "Fully?"

"Well, yes." She saw the deep frown starting to form on his face, and began to backtrack. "But not if you don't want to, it was just an idea."

"Aliya, I didn't-"

"Ask for that, I know." She ducked her head, trying not to let the rejection well up in her chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed." She started trying to move off his lap. "You know what, maybe I should just-"

His hands took her firmly by the shoulders and held her in place, but she tried to shake him off.

"No!" She said, unable to look at him because tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "You can't just – I mean – I don't think that I want to do this anymore. You clearly don't want-" She tried to keep herself calm, but it was difficult. Suddenly emotion was rising and she couldn't stop it. Not the hurt, not the anger, not the rejection. "I shouldn't have assumed. I shouldn't have expected it of you, I had no right. I'm just stupid and clingy and fanciful-"

The Doctor's hand tilted her chin up so that her eyes, shining with tears, could meet his concerned, incredulous ones. "Aliya. You misunderstood, you overreacted."

"Well I know that now, but why won't you just let me go," She asked him, face twisting with indignation, "Let go of me, let me leave and keep what's left of my pride."

He shook his head. "You're impossible." He held her head gently in his hands and brought it closer to his so that he could put tiny, fleeting kisses on each of her eyelids. She went very still, and very quiet. His fingertips rested on both of her temples, and very slowly, he pressed his forehead against hers.

The floodgate opened and his mind was almost fully against hers. He could directly feel her shock, and her confusion. So he used the link to make it so that she could feel exactly what it was that he felt for her. The love he could never express in words, the fear of the strength of it, the fear of losing her to death or something worse. The way that she made him so infuriated, the way she made him face what it was that he needed to face, the way that she drove him out of his mind, in the best and worst ways.

A very small part of him could feel her body shuddering against his, and could hear a tiny cry escape her lips.

Slowly, delicately, he pulled away and let their minds separate again. As he became fully aware of his physical surroundings again, he realised that he had a weeping Time Lady in his arms.

"I'm such an idiot," She was saying, her voice cracking, "If I'd just given you two seconds…" His hand cradled the back of her head, and she looked up at him, eyes red and still glassy. "I never thought that I was insecure about how you felt about me, but I was, I really was. I hadn't thought about it, but you've just left me behind, and there have been so many others, and _Romana_, and even when you gave me a chance, I screwed it up, I wasn't brave enough."

He just looked at her expectantly. "And now?"

She sighed, and made a noise that sounded like it was between a sob and a laugh. "And now, for some reason, you _do _feel the way I hoped, against all logic of the universe. But how can you? I'm so _stupid_."

"That's how," He told her, brushing hair from her face and wiping the tears from her cheeks, "Because you are bloody stupid. You're my beautiful idiot of a best friend." He kissed her sweetly, tenderly, and she started to laugh. "What now?"

"I'm just so _happy_," She said, shaking her head, "But please, keep kissing me." He did just that, and didn't pull away until a minute or so later.

"So, do you still want to do this? Fully? That will make it real. No coming back from it, once it's there, it's there forever," The Doctor reminded her, "You sure you want to get stuck with me?"

"Very sure," She assured him, smiling widely again for the first time since their misunderstanding, "Are you sure that you want to get stuck with me?"

"I've proved as much." His hands went back to her temples, and her hands went to his. Their foreheads came together, and very slowly, they opened up their minds to each other. The sheer weight of it was staggering, but eventually the effort required faded, and strands of their minds were entwined – ensuring that the bond was solid.

With the connection forged, they both opened their eyes, leaning back enough that their eyes could meet, but keeping their hands in place, keeping the connection live.

"I can feel you," Aliya whispered, a tiny smile on her lips.

All the full connection really meant was that their minds were open to that of the other – that less or no physical contact was needed for them to touch. Or, that if they were in contact, that they could _truly _connect, in that way that was so much more intimate than the physical act.

It was only possible to have that kind of connection with one person at a time. Most would only ever have it with one – they were almost impossible to break.

"Gonna take a while to get the hang of," The Doctor said, just as quietly. "Should probably leave it for a while, in the background." She nodded, agreeing. Just having her mind practically bared to his was more than enough. She thought that she might burst if they tried anything more.

That was when her brain stopped considering the mental possibilities and recalled their physical position. Which was her, straddling him, her shirt on the floor.

"Of course, that's not all there is," She said, starting to smile again, hands coming to rest on his lapels. "After all, we were waiting for something. I think that we might have found it."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

As an answer, she kissed him with a new hunger, a new passion that had him clutching at her wherever he could reach, holding her to him as if his life depended on it. Eventually she pulled away and got up. She kept a tight grip on his hand.

"I think this is the part where you take me to bed," She whispered, and with a small tug of her hand, the Doctor was on his feet and leading her through the corridors until they were at his bedroom. When they got inside, he kicked off his shoes and sat on the bed to rip off his socks.

As soon as his jacket was also on the floor, Aliya again straddled his hips, her hands pulling off his jumper, peeling it up and revealing the bare chest underneath. It came over his head, and when it was gone, he was kissing her again. Deeply, with his hands holding her head, and hers resting on the small of his back.

When they stopped for breath, Aliya's hands moved to run through his short hair, and her head dipped to press kisses along his shoulder and collarbone, lingering on the 'v' of his neck.

His fingers curled into her hips and brought her against him with a yank. A small squeak escaped from her and shifted into a gasp when they were suddenly touching practically everywhere, albeit through clothing.

"Okay," She said breathily, "The jeans are going to need to go."

One of his arms curled around her back, and next thing she knew, he had flipped them so that they were lying on the bed, her underneath him. She let her legs drop from his hips. While the loss of contact was regrettable, it allowed her hands to go to the button of his jeans, just as his were at the button of hers.

Once the two pieces of denim were also on the floor, the Doctor dipped his head down to kiss Aliya forcefully, pressing her into the duvet as her arms wrapped around him and her hands explored his neck and back.

With the new mental aspect of their relationship, they could both very faintly sense the emotions of the other, only because in that moment they were so heightened. Love and desire were the only ones potent enough to be recognised on their own.

"You're so beautiful...I love you, Doctor," She murmured against his mouth, making him go still. He leaned back just enough so that their eyes could meet.

"Aliya-" His voice sounded pained.

She pulled his head back down to hers so that there was an inch between them. "I know you won't say it. So show me."

There was a pause. But then he grinned, and did exactly that.


	6. New Links

**Sorry for the huge delay! I've been busy...and, you know, this story is to fufill my Nine and Daliya muse, which doesn't come around as much as you would think. **

**Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter: toavoidconversation, SuperFunkyGirl1, Lexy Summers, Akiza1, readandwrite4evernever20, Allebasii, Mrs. 11th, ZackAttack96, mad eye harry (so great to have you on board!), kie1993! **

**Now, as they did just get married, this chapter is quite a high T. Nothing explict, but a lot of implied stuff and references. Though there is still quite a bit of physical stuff too, but it kind of fades out before it gets TOO physical...you want more than that, you'll have to imagine it yourself! :P **

**But still, MAJORLY fluffy and probably the most Daliya ship to ever be seen in one place. So...YAY! :) **

**Also, randomly, the lipstick mentioned later on, just imagine Queen Amidala's lipstick from Star Wars I. **

**And this chapter - at the end - starts on the Empty Child/The Doctor Dances AU! Which, is quite different to the original, because, _obviously, _Aliya isn't stupid enough to accidentally grab onto a barrage balloon. And her and Jack start off on quite a different foot, shall we say...still, I'm so excited to have him in it! :D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><em>In that moment when they became joined body and soul, his true name fell from his lips for her ears only, and she felt her hearts tighten, the secret, after centuries, was finally hers also to keep. In reply she released her own name in a quiet gasp, and his eyes lit up with a triumph as he began to whisper it fervently…<em>

Aliya was less aware of her growing consciousness than she should have been, her mind was in her dreams, which had been filled with the most wonderful memories of all the Doctors she had known, especially with the one that she could now call _hers. _But she became aware of soft, large hands lightly brushing across her shoulder and arm, and snapped back to the present.

The Doctor's longer, more muscular body was protectively mirroring hers, one of his arms still possessively wrapped around her waist while the other was preoccupied with getting her attention with the light touches. Aliya realised that he had been able to sense she was awake through their new bond, and being as impatient as ever, was trying to wake her up properly. She stretched her hand up to grab his one, and gave it a gentle squeeze of recognition.

"'Bout time you woke up," The Doctor's voice said in an almost-grumpy-but-not tone.

"Forgive me for sleeping," Aliya murmured, and he chuckled briefly as he began to touch her hair instead, stroking and gently pulling on the blonde locks. "You seem to be very 'touchy feely' this morning."

"I have every right to be," He retorted, not realising how his Northern accent made her want to turn into a puddle of mush in his arms, "You're mine now, by anyone's standards."

"Well, I'm not one for being owned, but you can have partial rights, I suppose," She offered reasonably, feeling a frown come onto her face as he began laughing in a very smug way. "What is so funny?"

"And I thought your hair looked bad in the mornings before," He said with a patronising grin that only got larger as she tilted her head to look at him properly, eyebrow raised. And a split second before she tried to head for the bedroom mirror, he wound his arms around her stomach, his masculine strength forcing her back against his body as he pulled her in. "Nope, you're not going anywhere yet," He whispered, causing her to shiver, as the bare skin of her back was pressed against his bare chest, "Have you forgotten how your hair got like that? How much I enjoyed making it this messy?"

Aliya blinked as she thought back to the night before, remembering how his hands had wound through her hair insistently…and blushed slightly.

"I love seeing your hair like this…knowing it was me who did it," He continued firmly, and used his hand to tilt her chin up so that he was able to press a kiss to her lips. Her hearts started beating faster, and she was sure that he could hear them hammering against her chest.

Aliya kept her eyes closed after his lips pulled away from her, not happy at the loss of contact. "Don't you dare stop kissing me," She demanded, crushing her mouth against his again. His hands ran along her torso, caressing her skin before forcefully flipping her around to face him, and he deepened the kiss while turning them as one so that his body was above hers.

And then he went about making sure that her hair would take days to return to its normal state.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, when they were both lying still in the bed, Aliya ran her fingers over his face slowly, intently scoping out every curve and shadow. He watched her, the woman that was lying on his chest with utter contentment. The one that he had long ago given up hope of being able to have.<p>

"You're beautiful," She murmured quietly, her eyes following her hands across his face, eventually meeting his own blue eyes.

"Nice joke," He commented dryly, "I know I've got a daft old face this time around."

"It's not daft to me," Aliya replied with unshakable certainty. "It's wonderful, just like the rest of you. And I think I have proved how I feel about this."

His eyes changed from solemnity to a spark of teasing. "I dunno, you might have to prove it again…" His hands ran up her spine, coaxing another shiver from her.

"As much as I would like to accept," She said with a controlled smile, "I'm strangely hungry, and I would like to actually be able to get out of bed sometime today…and if we keep this up, I'm not going to be able to walk!" She shot him an accusing look. He looked sheepish.

"True," He admitted, "I am kind of hungry as well…I'll make us breakfast, shall I?" He pulled himself up so that he was sitting up and she was forced to shift her position so that she was sitting on his legs, her chest only inches from his. He fondly tucked hair behind her ear.

"Yes please…" She said with a smile, and he pressed a brief kiss to her lips before pulling away and swinging out of bed. She let herself fall back on the pillows as she watched him get dressed in everything except his jacket. As he was walking out the door, she added, "I'll see you in there." He nodded and she let herself relax into the pillows for a few more minutes.

Aliya moved some of her limbs experimentally, and found that she did indeed have some rather tender spots. She sat up and got out of bed slowly, crossing to the mirror where she got her first actual look at her hair. She groaned loudly, not even wanting to look at it. It literally stuck in every direction, making it look almost as though she had been electrocuted, and been hung upside down off a very windy cliff. It looked as though someone had just spent hours with their hands in it, mercilessly pulling it in every direction…which – now that she thought about it – embarrassingly, someone had.

Between their nightly activities, sleep, and their morning repeat of the night before, her hair hadn't stood a chance. She lamely patted some of it down before deciding not to bother with it at that precise moment. She cast her eyes around the room before they landed on his jacket. She quickly found her undergarments on the floor, but after putting them on, she took the jacket and donned it as she left the room.

She entered the kitchen without saying a word, and knew that he could sense her in the back of his mind just as she could feel him there too. She came up behind him – he was mixing something in a bowl – and stood next to him, eyeing the pale yellow mixture in the bowl with uncertainty.

"What is that?" Aliya asked with wide eyes, a childlike curiosity and wonder stirring in her. The Doctor looked down, clearly with the intent of making some clever and snarky remark, but when he saw her, the words dried up in his mouth.

"What are you wearing that for?" He spluttered, his gaze involuntarily running along her bare legs.

"For fun," She shrugged, a flirtatious and teasing smile on her face, "And to see you react like that."

"Well, forget it, there is no way that I can concentrate on this if you're next to me, wearing that. Off you go, get down to the wardrobe and pick something sensible that won't distract me." He said firmly, almost grumpy, "Go on." She rolled her eyes but did as he said, returning 10 minutes later in loose jeans and a t-shirt, her hair half-tamed.

"Spoilsport," She accused as she slid into a stool at the kitchen bench, watching him pour the mixture into a pan on the stove. "Now, what are those?"

"They are called pancakes, an Earth food," He explained as he turned to look at her while it was cooking, his expression very pleased, "And they're fantastic, can have them with almost anything, jam, syrup, citrus, banana…"

"I like the sound of all of those things." She said brightly, "Can I have them all together?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," He said with an amused look, and she took it as a challenge.

"And just because of that, I'm going have all of them together regardless." She said simply, smirking when he rolled his eyes and turned back to the pancakes.

Ten minutes later, he was watching her eat her stack of pancakes covered in mixed berry jam, maple syrup, chocolate sauce, lime juice, icing sugar, strawberries, cream, lemon curd, hazelnut and kiwifruit ice cream, and banana. His own forkful of maple syrup and banana pancake had paused in the middle of its path to his mouth, he was watching her, slack-jawed, as she happily devoured the whole thing, somehow able to not get food all over herself. She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow, caught between amusement and confusion.

"What?" Her eyes travelled from him to his fork to her plate, making the connection.

"You're actually enjoying that?" He asked incredulously, and she laughed.

"Of course I am!" She took another large mouthful of pancake into her mouth as if to prove her point, and after she had swallowed, added, "Why shouldn't I?"

He sighed in exasperation, "That's it, you're officially insane! I knew it was going happen eventually, but there we have it!"

"Why am I insane?" Aliya found it amusing, watching him with fond eyes as he seemed to struggle with his words.

"There are so many things on your plate that were never meant to mix, Ali, let's put it that way. And don't you find a bit too sweet? Not too sickly in your mouth?"

"But that's why I love it! It's so sweet!" She insisted, trailing her finger in a puddle of chocolate sauce and sticking it in her mouth.

"Oh great, Aliyanadevoralundar with a sweet tooth…" He groaned, not looking pleased as he shot her an almost reprimanding and paternal look, "The last thing I need is you on a sugar high." His condescending expression caused her to bristle.

"I take great offense to that comment," She said haughtily, and promptly turned away from him to finish off her food, polishing off the last few pieces of stray pancake, "Don't know why I married you, you're so rude."

"Don't know why I married you, you're insane _and _you're rude," He retorted, and his remark caused her to snort, getting up from her chair and walking past him.

She flicked the back of his head as she went past – just to irritate him – and made for the door. "That was a fairly repetitive comeback, you're hardly imaginative, are you? If you're going to insult me, do it properly." She then turned away from him completely, only to find his hand latching onto her wrist.

"You're impossible," He said with a large frown, "You're so brilliant, but you're also so infuriating that we manage to get into an argument over pancake toppings, and while I know that it's just a pointless argument, I feel like I should be properly angry at you."

She smirked, eyes rolling up him slowly until they got to his face. "Maybe we should have thought about that before we practically handed each other our hearts on a silver platter, because it's the same for me."

"Wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't been tempting me," The Doctor said immediately, eyeing her t-shirt while thinking about the fact that he would rather have it off her.

"Tempting you?" She repeated, putting on a fake innocence but not letting the spark leave her eyes. "And how, Doctor, did I tempt you?"

"Just by being there, with your fitting jeans and your lips that were just waiting for me to kiss them," He said firmly, now running his eyes on the lips in question, "But I would have been okay, had you not kept trying to undress me."

"Oh yes, make it all my fault, with your stupidly beautiful eyes and your ears and that leather jacket that was just itching to be taken off…and it wasn't just me, if you remember that time that we were on Delphon, and you practically had my shirt off, so don't make yourself out to be so innocent," She retorted, and he smirked, remembering the time fondly before again becoming serious, his brooding glare once more appearing.

"Oh shut up," He muttered, and she had precisely 1.5 seconds to look offended before he was kissing her and she was wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer. "Now, were you saying that I was unimaginative?" His whispered words in her ear caused her to smile, a teasing spark entering her eyes as she met his eyes, breathing slightly heavier than usual in the few seconds between their kissing.

"Are you planning on proving me wrong?" Aliya challenged, and his eyes lit up as he took her hand and led her out of the door and into the corridor.

"Absolutely," He said with his strong, arrogant confidence as he captured her lips once more before pulling her in the direction of his bedroom.

* * *

><p>"Is it…bad…that we keep doing this…that we just always want to…" Aliya trailed off awkwardly, biting her lip as she stared at him where he was propped up on the pillows.<p>

The Doctor grinned, smugly raised eyebrows practically mocking her. "Want to shag each other rotten?" He offered innocently, and she blushed furiously before whacking him on the arm.

"Don't put it so bluntly…you make it sound so human, and _English. _You have been spending far too much time around them…" She reprimanded.

He smirked. "We're newlyweds, Ali, we're allowed to do what we want."

"I suppose…but perhaps we could go out somewhere?" Aliya suggested, shrugging.

"Well, now that you mention it, I do have this invitation to the wedding of Prince Karlon of Talgar, haven't got around to attending yet…and there's a ball afterwards." The Doctor reached for the piece of techno-paper that read the neon message on the translucent screen. She took it out of his offering hand and read it quickly, a smile breaking out over her face as she did so. He took it back as she ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to tame it. "So…sound like a good idea?"

"It sounds brilliant," Aliya said happily, and he grinned at her.

"Come on then, never do something tomorrow you can do today…let's find you something to wear," The Doctor got out of the bed and began to pull his clothes on, forsaking his jacket and pulling her out and next to him, wrapping the leather around her before dragging her out of the door and to the wardrobe.

* * *

><p>The two of them wandered hand in hand through the racks and racks of clothes, heading for the dresses section.<p>

"Now, they're a modest species, so something long that doesn't show the bottom half of your figure too much…very much like the early Earth times, really," The Doctor explained, and his wife nodded.

"That's fine…" She murmured, "Any particular colour?"

"Actually, yeah, being off worlders, we should probably wear blue, it would be a sign of respect," The Doctor shrugged, "I'll go and find a blue jumper, you look for a dress."

"You're not going to change?" Aliya asked indignantly, and he turned to smirk at her.

"Nope," He teased, "Works for anywhere, this does. And make sure you give that jacket back to me when you're done."

Aliya rolled her eyes and began to browse through the blue dresses, her hands sliding over the silk and satin, lace and ruffles, until she found one that she liked, with a long, flouncy skirt that would be appropriate, and a boat neckline that would not reveal too much. She eyed the matching corset with distaste, knowing it to be uncomfortable and hard to put on.

Eventually she was forced to get the Doctor to help her, and she stood in front of the wardrobe mirror in her underwear and stockings while he laced up the back of her corset with fervent and adorable concentration, his fingers deftly working and occasionally brushing her skin lightly. When the job was done and she was ready in her dress, and he in his jacket and blue jumper, she turned to leave only for him to stop her.

"No, one more thing…we want to look really good, then they'll invite us back. I'll be right back, just got to grab something." The Doctor said before dashing off, only to return with a box full of small decorative blue flowers. "Now, this will look good." He began weaving them through her hair, and while he was doing so, Aliya picked one up and pined it to his jacket lapel, giving it a slightly more formal air. "Oh, and I forgot, you need this…" He fetched a black lipstick and painted her lips so that the top lip was fully painted and the bottom one only had a centimetre thick stripe down the middle. "It's their custom."

"Why black, though?"

"They usually use charcoal, but this is close enough."

"Oh."

When they were done, they stood back and looked themselves over in the mirror, both pleased by what they saw.

* * *

><p>The Doctor dragged Aliya by the hand through the gardens around the palace where the wedding was taking place, while she did her best to swat branches full of fruit that looked like blue cherries out of her face.<p>

"Come on, we're going to be late!" He urged her, and she huffed.

"We have a time machine, why didn't you just land earlier?" He ignored her question because he had no real answer other than an admittance of his occasional inability to fly the machine. Finally they got to the door, where the Doctor flashed his invitation – it was a nice change from the psychic paper – and they then sat down in the front row.

"Why are we in the front?" Aliya whispered, looking around at the other guests, all of whom were natives with pale pink skin only a little different from their own, and pale blue eyes. She noticed that they were all dressed in various colours, though no one else was in blue except for one man in a blue suit at the back, and he looked completely different with dark skin and horns on his forehead; another alien, it would seem.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and smiled. "Didn't I mention? We're guests of honour, the Prince is an old friend of mine, we went through a spot of bother back in my Sixth Incarnation, and sent me an invite. I've had it for centuries, just never got around to it."

"So he knew you back when you looked like you were from the Rainbow land of Patchwork that was ruled by cats? I don't know if you could have picked two more different incarnations of yourself for him to meet…does he even know about regeneration?" Aliya raised an eyebrow, comparing the arrogant and rude man with the questionable dress sense to the….arrogant and rude man with the less questionable dress sense. Though he was at least considerably more polite, she supposed, though he _could _be rude and arrogant. Just not quite as much as he had been three regenerations prior.

They then had to be quiet, as silence overtook the guests. The bride and groom were walking up the aisle hand in hand, a piece of ribbon binding them together. They stood in front of the official performing the ceremony, and the vows began.

* * *

><p>The ball started soon after the ceremony ended, and the seats were quickly moved to clear the ballroom floor. The Doctor watched the newly married royal couple, waiting for his chance to greet his old friend, while his fellow Time Lord found herself absorbed by the music of the small orchestra in the corner of the room until a jerk on her hand broke her out of her daze.<p>

"Come on, now's our chance!" The Doctor was saying excitedly, and before she knew it, they were face to face with Prince Karlon and Princess Sephina. "It's good to see you again, your highness."

The Prince eyed the Doctor dubiously, frowning. "Have we meet before?"

"Oh, right, regeneration," The Doctor remembered after having forgotten briefly, "It's me, your pal from back in that business in the Gamma Forest!"

The royal's eyes widened. "Doctor? I understand regeneration, but this seems unbelievable…well, I suppose you were not lying about the 'complete' change. How is Miss Perpugilliam Brown?"

The question caused the Doctor's eyes to flash momentarily, but it soon passed. Aliya wasn't even sure that anyone other than herself had seen it. Having been present at the time when the Doctor had been on trial for his life, told that Peri had been killed, then informed that she had actually gone on to marry a King that they had met on their last adventure, Aliya had never been sure if the Doctor fully believed that Peri had survived; it wasn't as though the Time Lords hadn't lied to him before.

"Oh, she's good…got married, all that jazz, that was a long time ago, for me anyway…how long has it been for you?" He shrugged. The Prince hesitated, obviously aware of the Doctor's time travelling but not prepared for the strangeness of the question.

"Three years…may I introduce my wife," It was obvious the term was both new and exciting for him to use, "Sephina." The Prince indicated with his hand, and Sephina nodded to the Doctor in acknowledgement, her ebony locks of hair bobbing.

"A pleasure," The leather clad man said before indicating to the blonde next to him. "My wife, Lady Aliyanadevoralundar." Aliya did a small curtsy and smiled at both of the royals.

The Doctor then stepped forward and clasped the Prince's hand in his own, and the Prince leaned forward to press his forehead and nose against the Doctor's. The two men stayed like that for several moments before pulling away, mutual respect burning in each other's eyes. The Prince reached for Aliya's hand, and she copied what the Doctor had done, realising that it was some form of greeting.

"Thank you for attending, Doctor," The Prince smiled warmly, before something entered his eyes, "And let me say, that I am deeply sorry for your loss, of your planet and people."

The Doctor's cheer instantly vanished along with his smile, his eyes becoming grave.

"Thank you," He said, and Aliya was quick to offer her hand subtly, and he clasped it firmly, squeezing for support, "That's very kind. I'm just glad that I was lucky enough to have this one turn up out of the blue."

The Prince looked at Aliya in a new light, and the Princess's eyes were also full of interest as they gazed at the blonde.

"She is a Time Lord?" He asked, and Aliya nodded slowly.

"My full title is the Lady Angel of the House of Arpexia of Gallifrey, affiliated with the Prydonian chapter, your highness," She explained, and the Prince nodded.

"Ah, the formalities of a lost civilisation. May the two of you live long, prosperous lives and ensure that it is never forgotten." He said proudly.

* * *

><p>The Doctor and Aliya laughed at each other happily as a fast waltz was struck up and they tried to find their feet with only marginal success.<p>

"Come on, Doctor, I'm sure that we can do this!" She urged him, and he snorted indignantly.

"Excuse me, Ali, but I think you'll find that you're worse at this out of the two of us, thanks very much!" He retorted, and she shrugged.

"True…"

"Hypocrite."

"Grumpy ass."

"Uncoordinated critic."

"Lousy teacher."

The Doctor pretended to be impressed. "So what, now it's _my _fault that you can't dance the waltz?"

Aliya smirked, "Of course."

"I'm so getting you for that later," He replied, eyes flashing with the challenge.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to enjoy this punishment?" Aliya answered suggestively, batting her eyes with a smile as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'll make sure that you don't." He growled, and she inched closer, bringing their torsos closer together as she looked up at his noble face, currently holding a frown of defiance as he stared at her, but his eyes were full of mirth.

"And I'll make sure that we do," Aliya whispered, mouth inches from his ear, and his hands ran up her spine before his mouth descended on hers in a hard kiss that lasted for only a few seconds before he firmly grasped her hand and began spinning her around herself in circles.

"We'll see about that," He said calmly as he watched her go around and around and around like a spinning top, glaring at him every time she went past. Eventually he stopped her, and let her come to a halt with a thump against his chest, and he found amusement in the way that her eyes tried to focus. When they did, they narrowed upon seeing his smirk. She pushed away from him, dancing away from him by herself, poking her tongue out at him before ignoring him completely.

He watched her walk out of the ballroom, and debated internally with himself before approaching the Prince and informing him that he would be leaving. The Prince nodded and wished them both well. The Doctor then quickly made to follow his friend, exiting the palace and wandering the dimly lit gardens in search of her. His eyes caught onto a glint of gold, and he whipped around to see her entering the blue hedge maze, and he quickly did the same.

"Aliyana, I will find you, you know…" He said loudly, and he heard an unmistakable chuckle from nearby, followed by an increased pace of footsteps. He also began to run, following the sound of her movements. Just when he thought he had her, he entered the centre of the maze, and stopped in shock when he saw the Police Box in front of him.

Questions rolling through his head, he stormed in to see Aliya sitting on the edge of the console with her legs crossed, feet bare. He dimly noted her shoes lying on the floor a few feet from him, but was more focused on her.

"How did the TARDIS get in the middle of a maze, exactly?" He asked slowly, already having guessed the answer. Aliya dipped her head back as she smirked.

"I put it there," She replied lazily, "Are you going to leave that door open? There's a breeze."

He shut it abruptly, and she smiled. He glowered at her, but the angrier he looked, the more delighted she became.

"We need to talk." He began walking towards her, his imposing presence approaching, and her hearts skipped a beat, but she didn't show it for a second.

"Let's not."

"Oi! I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk, so…" He stopped in front of her, wavering, thinking hard as she stared at him with wide, intelligent, waiting eyes. It was those eyes that made his mind up. "You know what? Screw it."

The Doctor kissed her fiercely, and she smiled against his lips at his decision.

"So…the bedroom, then?" She breathed in-between kisses, and found her lips occupied for several more seconds before he replied.

His large hands explored her back, and his chuckle them both vibrating slightly due to their immediacy. "No…I don't think so…feeling a bit impatient, me." He said firmly, and she raised an eyebrow as he paused, their faces an inch apart and eyes watching each other with fire burning in them.

"The console room?" She asked simply, sceptical but not adverse, and he answered with a brief kiss and a 'um hmmm'.

Eventually, he gave her a proper response, blue eyes full of both passion and amusement as he gazed at her, "Like you've never been curious in five centuries."

She laughed heartily as her hands explored his shoulders and neck, and he looked satisfied at her response, bringing her lips to hers with a purpose as his hands slid underneath her dress, bunching the fabric up as he went.

* * *

><p>"Do you know how many days we can knock around space without bumping into Earth?" The Doctor asked curiously as they stepped out of the police box, having tracked the dangerous mauve object through the vortex to London.<p>

"For you? About a week and a half at the most," Aliya replied as she looked around the alley they had landed in, "For the rest of us…hard to say. But I only went there, what, once, in a whole century of time travelling?"

"Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway, and it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month." He continued, and Aliya shot him an unimpressed look.

"A month," She scoffed, "I know we were jumping time tracks, but we _were _right behind it! You have to sort out your driving, Theta."

"Oi! You want to drive?" He asked, and she raised an eyebrow, about to open her mouth when, "Actually, no, don't answer that."

"So…shall I scan for alien tech then, and find out where it is?" She offered, and he turned to shoot her a confused look.

"What do you mean 'you', I'm the one with the sonic-" He cut off when he noticed the device being twirled between her fingers, "-screwdriver. How the hell does _my _screwdriver end up in _your _pocket?" Again, she raised an eyebrow and he sighed, "Don't answer that either. And we don't need to scan for alien tech, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask. Now, can you open this door?" Aliya pointed the sonic lazily and the door popped open. "Many thanks," He said as he went through it, only to poke his head back out again. "Door, music, people. You coming?"

"No, I'm going to do a scan for alien tech…" She rolled her eyes, "Meet you back here, let's see who gets done first."

"Righteo then, see you later!" He said cheerily before ducking into the building. Aliya walked back down the alleyway when she heard an eerie voice.

"Mummy….mummy…" It was a child's voice, and when she looked up, she could see a kid in a gas mask standing on the roof of a building.

"Oh my lord," She exclaimed, and quickened her pace as she ran up the iron stairs, "I'm coming, hold on!" She was close to the child now, but as she looked around, there was no way of getting to him other than a nearby rope. Aliya looked up to see what it was attached to, and when she saw the barrage balloon, shook her head in irritation. She wasn't _that _stupid, that was for sure.

Sitting down on the edge of the building in defeat, she watched the child as he continued to stare ahead, motionless, until, "Balloon!" He exclaimed, pointing at the barrage balloon that was now flying away.

"Yep," She said glumly, "Great lot of help that was." She stayed like that for several minutes, just watching. The child didn't say much apart from 'Mummy', she had deducted. But when a noise made her look away, the moment she looked back, the child was gone, causing a shiver to run down her spine that had nothing to do with the icy wind whipping at her. She took out the sonic screwdriver and ran the scan that she had been meaning to get to, and a few minutes later, it began beeping rapidly. She eyed it warily. "What's got you so excited, then?"

The readings told her that there was a spaceship – not the TARDIS – nearby, with an invisibility shield. She crossed her legs where she was sitting and fiddled with the screwdriver's settings, trying to persuade it to create a teleport link with the ship that would let her come on board. Eventually, it worked, and she was unsure if she imagined the sound of the Doctor calling her name as the strange sensation of matter transfer engulfed her.

A few seconds later, she found herself in a small spaceship that was clearly meant for less than half a dozen passengers. Before she could move, however, she found herself in a containment vortex. And it took her less than a second to realise that the vortex had a physic block on it, because the telepathic presence of the Doctor in the back of her mind was suddenly cut off viciously, and she cried out in pain, not used to the feeling of complete mental isolation. She could feel herself growing weaker with every passing minute, and she tried to fight the urge to let herself fall to the floor…

* * *

><p>The Doctor sat at the table with the homeless children and their leader, Nancy, thinking about the strange event that had occurred ten minutes prior, when his telepathic connection with Aliya had abruptly been broken, obviously masked by something. To say that he was worried was an understatement big enough to blow up Europe.<p>

Still, it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Oh, and I want to find a blonde in tight trousers with different coloured eyes…a specific one, I mean, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving…" The children laughed. "Anyone seen a woman like that?"

Though, he thought about it and realised that it had been a slight lie. He _had _woken that morning with a craving for a blonde with different coloured eyes…

Though the trousers…not so much.

* * *

><p>Captain Jack Harkness was staring out across the view from the balcony he was on when his vortex manipulation beeped, alerting him to a teleport breach on his ship. He raised his eyebrows, said a quick excuse to Alfy, and then ducked behind a corner and activated his own homing teleport.<p>

He arrived on his ship to see his holding cell had done its job, perhaps a little too well. A blonde woman with short hair just past her chin was sitting at the bottom of the holding cell dejectedly, head resting against the side while she remained curled around herself, clearly not in the best of shape. He frowned when he saw the expression of great pain on her face, and when she looked up, noticing him for the first time, he could see tears glistening on her cheeks.

All he could register in his mind was total confusion. She was cute, though.

* * *

><p>Aliya realised that someone else was in the ship, and she tilted her face slowly to look at them. It was a man, a handsome one – not that she was in the mood to notice. He stood there, watching her curiously. She fought the urge to scramble to her feet and rage at him, rather easily too, because she had little to no energy, and it was hardly dignified.<p>

He pressed a button a device from his wrist and the containment vortex disappeared, letting her hit the floor with a thump, having been leaning on the vortex beforehand. She gasped as the Doctor's presence returned to her head, and felt his mind urgently searching for her, needing to know if she was okay. She closed her eyes, clutching her head and trying to send a thought wave that would assure him of her safety.

Her limbs felt strange and light, it was hard for her to move them, the vortex had drained so much of her strength. The man knelt by her, apparently to try and help her, but she pushed him away roughly, glaring.

"Don't," She growled simply as she pulled herself onto a nearby bunk. She tried to wipe at the stupid tears she had shed inside the vortex. It had hurt so much, being so isolated in her own mind, feeling the vortex drain her of her strength and fortitude. That was the probably with being a telepathic species…when the link was broken, it hurt. A lot.

"I'm sorry…" The man said, "I don't know why it affected you so much, or exactly what it did, but I swear, I didn't mean for it to do that."

She didn't answer, merely fiddled with the device in her hands, examining it, before muttering, "Drained. Typical."

"Look, I'm trying to apologise…" The man said with a frown, and held out his hand, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

She eyed his hand warily, mind conflicted. Usually she would take it, but she was grumpy and weak after being drained by his stupid machine, so no, she was not going to be in the mood for being friendly.

"Well, _Captain, _I don't want your apologies. Perhaps you should be more careful with the devices and procedures you have on your ship." She said harshly, and he raised an eyebrow defensively. "Your damned containment vortex invaded my _mind, _cut me off…you had no right to do that!"

"Well, excuse me!" He said affrontedly, looking irritated, "But if you're going to break into a spaceship, you have to be ready to face the consequences! You're in no position to lecture me, Miss Houdini."

Aliya opened her mouth to retort, then abruptly shut it when she realised she had nothing to say. He was right, she _had _made the choice to break into his ship…how could she blame him for any security procedures when they would have been avoided if she had simply tracked him down and asked? She scowled upon realising that he was right and she was in the wrong, and looked away from him.

Captain Jack Harkness raised an eyebrow.

It was going to be a _long _night.

* * *

><p><strong>So, yeah, she's kind of not too happy with him right now...even if she knows that she can't justify it...oh Aliya, how she hates to be wrong...ah well, she's only...well, a person (Was going to say human, but didn't really apply, LOL). <strong>

**But hopefully you liked? And any closet Daliya fans...this would be a good time to voice your thoughts!**

**Please drop a review and let me know what you thought! **

**-MayFairy :)**

**p.s. I recently started a story in the Wizard101 category. It's a game, but I've taken the challenge of trying to adapt the game world into a fiction world with a story, which has been quite interesting. You don't really need any knowledge of the game to follow it, so if you could check it out (mostly talking to my regulars here), it would be VERY VERY VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. Thanks! **


	7. The Doctor Dances

**Well, if you had asked me two days ago whether I would be updating this any time soon, the answer would have been no. However, when I saw the end of Dalek on TV, Nine got into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. Hence why you now have this. **

**Deafening Silence is on it's way, I have half of it, just a whole lot of Doctor/River fluff and stuff to go, basically. It's coming, I promise, just realise how busy I am right now, please. **

**Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter: kie1993, SuperFunkyGirl1, Mrs. 11th, Spirit-of-the-Rain, Lexy Summers, Akiza1, ZackAttack96, readandwrite4evernever20, alittlespecificity81, and toavoidconversation! **

**10 reviews is a reasonable number. :) You're all awesome. **

**This chapter makes me laugh because of Jack and Aliya, mostly, though there is also Daliya fighty fluff, Daliya dancey fluff, and just Daliya fluff in general, which is a nice change from DS. :P **

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p>Aliya sat in the Captain's spaceship, staring at the floor blankly, hand on her wrist as she felt her pulse slowly pick up its pace again. She wasn't really in the mood for talking, not to someone who currently had the moral high ground. He hadn't tried to talk to her yet, merely watched her from his swivel chair by the controls, eyes wary but worried.<p>

"You okay?" The Captain asked eventually, clearly sick of having to wait.

She looked at him, not glaring for the first time, just passive as she murmured, "I'm fine."

"What exactly did the holding cell do to you?" She shot him a sceptical look, and he shrugged defensively, "Shoot a guy for being curious…it's never affected anyone like that before."

"It's just…do you realise that it's a complete psychic barrier, right?" Aliya looked at him, and he looked a little surprised.

"I knew that it was supposed to stop psychic communications…but completely…wow, I really got my money's worth!" He chuckled, and she glared, causing him to stop abruptly. "But uh…sorry."

"And that was most of it…it just sort of took some of my physical strength too, I suppose." Aliya said unsurely, and when he suddenly spotted something on the ground he got up and picked it up, only for her to get up with a jolt and snatch the small gold object out of his hand quickly. "I think you'll find that's mine." She said firmly, hand closing over the TARDIS key. He didn't seem fazed, merely held his hands up in resignation as he backed away by a few steps. "So who are you supposed to be?"

"Captain Jack Harkness, 133 Squadron Royal Airforce, American Volunteer." He said with a charming smile as he held out a familiar looking piece of paper.

"And you're lying to me already, how charming," Aliya retorted with distaste as her eyes flicked to the paper, breaking his gaze for less than a moment.

His eyebrows lifted as he was caught slightly off guard, and he leaned back in his seat. "How do you know?"

"There's absolutely no logical reason for trying to pass as a local when we are currently sitting in your spaceship," She replied in a patronising tone, to which he frowned as he realised her point, "And this piece of paper is blank, though to any other person it would read 'Captain Jack Harkness, single, works out'. Honestly, you're trying to use psychic paper on me after seeing what a complete psychic shield did to me? Are you really as stupid as you're coming across?" She paused and stared at him, scrutinising, and tried to read his eyes and figure out his intelligence level for herself.

"Touché, but if the piece of paper was blank, how do you know that it said that?"

"Because to me it both read your personal details and was blank."

"How could it be both at the same time?"

"It's all a matter of natural perception; and don't ask me to explain, if I had an hour – and I don't – I still wouldn't have brought you anywhere near understanding it." Aliya said in a blasé tone. "Though seriously, control your thoughts as you hand it over," She handed it back to him with a coy smile, which only grew when he looked to the paper hopefully and found it with strictly professional.

"Well, that's quite a name you have there, Miss Aliyanadevoralundar. Aliya for short, you say?" He asked cheekily as his eyebrows raised again.

"No, 'a-LAY-a'," She corrected him strictly as she leaned on the side of his ship.

"A-LAY-a, okay," He repeated before again reading off the paper, "Occupation: Traveller. Seriously, that's all you're going to give me?" All he got from her was a reluctant smirk. "If this paper had been handed over with a wandering mind, what would it have said?"

"Nothing that was any of your business," She replied.

"Well, let's see, fabric that won't be around for another century or so – refined denim, very nice – irrefutable logic, a name that no one in this time period would ever have, and keen psychic awareness, seems pretty obvious that you're not a local girl," Jack noted as his eyes ran over her.

"Just as you're not a local guy."

"Never claimed to be."

Aliya coughed pointedly, the words 'psychic paper' discernible underneath the noise, and he grinned unashamedly.

"Okay, you got me there," He admitted. She found herself smiling with amusement, and frowned at him in the split second she realised what she was doing.

"Stop doing that," She said with slight wariness.

"Doing what?" His voice sounded almost too innocent.

"Being all likeable," She said flatly, and despite meaning to glare, a grin broke out on her face at the same time one did on his.

"Aw, what do you know, there's a soft side in there after all," Jack teased, though quickly became serious. "But you can stop acting now, I know exactly who you are, I can spot a Time Agent a mile away."

Aliya's eyebrow cocked quizzically as her different coloured eyes considered him. "Oh really?" She asked with an unfathomable tone.

The American nodded. "I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though not, I must say, by way of breaking and entering."

"What can I say, I'm an individual," She said sarcastically. He laughed as he got up from his chair.

"We'll get down to business," He said as he grabbed a bottle of champagne.

"Business…with alcohol?"

He winked at her suggestively. "The best kind. Bring up the glasses."

Ignoring the more rational part of her mind which was telling her not to, Aliya did as she was told and followed him up the ramp he had lowered from the roof of the ship, coming out next to Big Ben, her feet on top of the spaceship, which was invisible.

"Invisible spaceship," She noted as she approached him, "Should I be impressed?"

Jack laughed again. "My typical answer would be yes, but you're not my typical kind of girl."

"And you would do well to remember it," Her answer made him grin before he made a show of popping the cork off the bottle of champagne, which for an unknown reason made her giggle. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she simply blushed, looked down, and held up a glass for him to fill, which he did.

They both drank their glasses in silence, though she didn't miss the number of flirtatious looks he was sending her way. She put her glass down next to where he was reclining with his own.

"I should be getting back, I'm already far later that I was supposed to be…I'm going to lose the bet," The last sentence came out as a huff, she was not pleased at losing to the Doctor.

"But we're discussing business," He protested, and she stared him down.

"No, no, we're not," She crossed her arms. "We're drinking champagne."

"I try never to discuss business with a clear head," His reply did not impress her, though she deducted that it may have been in the intention.

"Then you really are as stupid as my first impression would tell me," She bit back, and he raised his eyebrows again.

"Ouch! Just because I like my liquor, doesn't mean I'm stupid," He argued.

Aliya rolled her eyes boredly. "Idiot until proven otherwise, with the introduction you had."

"Well, I'll have to prove otherwise to you then, won't I?" He jumped up and approached her. "Now, are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?"

"I'm authorised to do whatever I please," Aliya replied testily, "But no, I'm not travelling alone. What would we be negotiating?"

"I have something for the Time Agency," The Captain began, coming ever closer to her, "Something they'd like to buy, are you empowered to make payment?"

"It would be best if I talked to my…partner," She said slowly, and watched his eyebrows lift with interested curiosity.

"Partner?"

"The man I should be getting back to," She continued.

"Man?" When she nodded, he came closer to her, completely invading her personal space, "When you say 'partner', just how disappointed should I be?" His hands settled on her waist, and she tried to think of a polite way to turn him down.

"You ask me a personal question, on top of an invisible spaceship in the middle of World War II, and make a move onto me before hearing the answer?" Aliya said as she watched him lift her hands up and she snatched them away before his lips could touch them. "Jack Harkness, sort out your manners and priorities, _please_."

He laughed. "Fair enough," He said. "Do you like Glenn Miller?" The name had no meaning to Aliya whatsoever, so she did not reply and simply watched him as he used a small remote control to turn on a piece of Earth music.

The music playing in the background, he approached her again with that incomparable aura and gently pulled her into him, striking up a slow dance which was a little too intimate for her tastes, and she was very aware of his hand on her lower back, and his other hand entwined with hers. It felt strangely nice but it did not compare to how it felt when the Doctor was in his place.

He began to talk slowly as they rotated around and around atop his spaceship. "It's 1941, the height of the London Blitz. The height of the German Bombing campaign. And something else has fallen onto the London."

"Your ego?" Aliya guessed innocently, and he laughed.

"A fully equipped Chula Warship. The last one in existence…armed to the teeth. And I know where it is." He pulled back slightly to look her in the eye and she held his gaze steadily. "Because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's the deadline, that's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?"

Changing the subject slightly, the blonde woman chose to address a matter that had been egging at her brain. "So, you're an ex-Time Agent who's now…a freelancer? Is that the right word? My English isn't always the best."

"Well, that's a little harsh…I like to think of myself as a criminal," He purred as he pulled her hips against his. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to break his grip, she settled for leaning back a little.

"Why does that not surprise me?" She answered with a roll of her eyes that came out seeming a little too fond for her liking.

"So, this partner of yours, does he handle the business?"

"Yeah, he's more well-travelled than me, and I find it boring."

"Well, maybe we should go and find him."

"Exactly what I've been saying all along!"

"I'll just do a scan for alien tech, won't be a moment…"

Aliya couldn't help but grin at his words, and compared him to the Doctor in her mind. "Finally, someone else with common sense…"

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"Hello?"

They had tracked the Doctor's signal to an abandoned hospital, and if the beeping from Jack's vortex manipulator was anything to go by, they were close to the Time Lord, very close. The sound of a squeaky door opening echoed through the eerie corridors as the Doctor came into view. The moment he saw her, his face broke into a relieved smile, and Aliya felt his emotions do the same.

"Ali!" He said before hugging her tightly. "I lost you for a while there, you were cut off from me, I got worried."

"It was no picnic for me either, but all his fault," Aliya said as he set her down, and pointed her thumb back at Jack, "But all fixed now, so don't worry."

Jack held out his hand and shook the Doctor's enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you, Doctor, I've been hearing a bit about you on the way over."

"He figured out that we were Time Agents," Aliya interjected quickly. The Doctor played it cool and nodded.

"It's a real pleasure to meet you, Doctor," Jack said before heading off down the hallway, while the Doctor shot an inquisitive glance at Aliya, who bit her lip before standing on her tiptoes, touching his temples with her fingertips and pressing her forehead against his to open the psychic link just long enough to send through a brief explanation. Clued in, the Doctor set off down the corridor in pursuit of Jack with Aliya in tow.

* * *

><p>Jack blasted open the door to the room where the first victim of the Chula ambulance had been taken, and Aliya leaned in towards the Doctor and whispered, "You are so pathetic. Sonic screwdriver not manly enough in front of the con man?"<p>

He shot an unamused look at her. "Shut up." He muttered.

"Not likely."

The Doctor examined Jack's sonic blaster with an aloft air. "Sonic blaster, 51st century, Weapons Factories of Villengard?"

"You've been to the factories?"

"We've been once."

"Yeah, well, they're gone now. Destroyed," Jack said flatly, "The main reactor went critical. Vaporised the lot."

The Doctor handed the blaster back, seemingly disinterested. "Like I said, once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas, bananas are good." He grinned at Aliya, who blushed slightly but grinned back.

"Can we have banana splits after this?" She asked with a longing tone, and he grinned.

"Aliya, if we get out of this, I'll make you as many banana splits as you like," The Doctor offered, and she raised her eyebrows, a challenge in her eyes.

"Watch what you promise me, Doctor, I may just take you up on it," She teased.

* * *

><p>Jack sat down in a chair, eyes flashing with disguised panic and sarcasm. "Well, that assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?"<p>

The Doctor's eyes flashed dangerously and he turned on Aliya. "So, Aliyanadevoralundar, where'd you pick this one up?"

"Don't you start," Aliya said angrily, "I just followed the alien tech signal, and wound up on his ship."

"Oh, and you just thought that you'd bring him along, did you?" He retorted, "Typical. Just bloody typical."

"Whoa, didn't mean to spark up trouble in paradise," Jack said, but neither of them paid him much attention.

"Shut up, Jack. And you," Aliya turned to the Doctor, "Don't you dare talk to me like that!" She yelled, "I don't know what trouser-chasing Earth girls you're used to having, but I am not one of them, and you would do well to remember that!"

"No, you're _much _more irritating," The Doctor snapped.

"Oh, I just can't do this right now," Aliya seethed and spun to look at the door, but froze when she noticed a prominent absence. "Doctor!"

"What?" His voice was sickly sweet, irritatingly mocking.

"Jack's gone," Her words made him spin and look at where she was indicating.

They both began calling for him and scouring what little of the room there was for him.

"He's gone," Aliya whispered dejectedly as she collapsed into the wheelchair Jack had been occupying.

"I told you, didn't I?" The Doctor said bitterly, and with that sentence the two of them remembered that they were mad at each other and pointedly fell silent.

A minute later, Jack's voice appeared from nowhere, taking them both by surprise. They tracked it to the old radio in the room, which was unplugged.

"Aliya, Doctor, can you hear me?"

The two Time Lords exchanged a confused look.

"I'm back on my ship, used the emergency teleport. Sorry that I couldn't take you, it's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it – hang in there."

"How're you speaking to us?" The Doctor asked.

"Om-com, I can call anything with a speaker grille."

The Doctor frowned. "Now there's a coincidence."

"What is?"

"The Child can Om-Com too." He explained, and Aliya felt her eyebrows rise.

"Really? That's so strange…it would be a fascinating case to study if it weren't in World War II Earth and so terrifying." She murmured.

The Doctor nodded, continuing with what he had been saying, "Anything with a speaker grille, even the TARDIS phone."

"It can phone us?" Aliya tried not to feel alarmed, something that became impossible when the Child's voice suddenly came through the speaker grille of the radio instead of Jack's, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

"And I can hear you…" The Child's voice was sickening playful, "Coming to fiiind you, coming to fiiind you…"

"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked urgently.

"Unfortunately," Aliya replied.

"I'll try and block out the signal. Least I can do," The ex-Time agent offered.

"Coming to find you, mummy!"

A familiar song began to come through the radio instead of the Child's voice. "Remember this one, Aliya?" Jack asked, and Aliya could just visualise the grin he would be wearing. She felt her lips twitch slightly, feeling ever so slightly comforted by the gesture.

The Doctor glanced at her questioningly, slight possessiveness in his eyes. Aliya blushed.

"I suppose that you could say that it's our song," She said simply, leaning back in the wheelchair. The Doctor turned away before she could see his reaction and started using his sonic on the bars on the window.

Two minutes later, the silence between the two of them was eating at Aliya and she felt that she had to say something.

"Are you trying to resonate concrete?" She asked with an inquiring frown, tilting her head, and he peered over his shoulder only to scowl at her.

"If you're going to judge, shut up," He said harshly, and she recoiled slightly, biting her lip as he once again turned away from her.

"Doctor…" She said softly, with enough change in her tone for him to freeze, clearly listening, "I don't want to fight. Not now. Not with this…this child calling us mummy." He said nothing. "Doctor…_Theta_…I'm scared." Her voice wavered slightly and he finally looked at her, compassion in his eyes at last. "And you not having confidence in Jack really doesn't help the situation. Why don't you trust him?"

"Why do you?" He asked quietly, an edge in his tone which sounded as though it could be jealousy.

"Because he's a good man."

"Ali, he's a con man!"

"But he has that…that aura of potential, of sincerity…like what you have, only with dating and better dancing." Aliya settled on unsurely, and the Doctor looked offended.

"You make it sound like I don't…_dance_," He muttered, and she got out of the chair, approaching him.

"No, I know that you do, just…not always when you should," She said quietly. "Like now, for instance."

"Aliya, I'm trying to resonate concrete," He said in a forced tone, and she laughed quietly.

"Jack _will _get us out, Doctor, just trust me to trust him. Now prove to me that you have the moves," Aliya stood up on the cabinet he was standing on and leant against his back, taking comfort in his closeness as her hand came up to hold the hand that held the sonic, stopping him in his chore.

"You know I have the moves, I just don't like to boast," He said, but allowed her to lead him back down to the floor.

"The universe doesn't implode if the Doctor dances…" She teased, and he reluctantly smiled faintly. He took her hands somewhat awkwardly before leading her into a dance to the music in the background. Suddenly so close together, Aliya felt her body automatically relax just by being around him. Their eyes locked, faces only inches apart as they gently rotated on the spot of floor they were occupying. Aliya felt herself smile almost shyly before just resting her head on his shoulder and breathing in the smell of his jacket. She could feel his nose pressing into her hair and heard him whisper in her ear.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely.

"For what?" She asked almost sleepily, confused and not particularly concerned in that moment.

"For always arguing and causing a fuss," He sighed and she chuckled.

"It's a joint effort, Doctor, so I'm sorry too, it's hardly your fault," She said. His hand began making small circles around the area where it was resting on her lower back, and she exhaled contently.

"It's so nice to see you two making up," Jack's voice said, and they both looked up to see that they were now in Jack's spaceship. The ex-Time Agent was grinning at them. "Most people notice when they've been teleported, you two are so sweet." Aliya blushed and she and the Doctor gently moved away from each other. After some talk about nanogenes and ships, Jack added, "Make yourselves comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were…doing."

The Doctor bristled. "We were dancing," He said innocently.

"Looked a bit more intimate than that, but by all means continue," Jack said with a smirk, and Aliya rolled her eyes before leaning against the Doctor tiredly.

"Are you okay?" The man in leather asked worriedly, and she nodded slowly.

"Just tired and…creeped out. I've been called mummy once before, I don't want it any more than once. It makes me remember things that are best forgotten." She said quietly.

"Oh…I hadn't thought about it like that," The Doctor said with a frown, and subconsciously pulled her into another slow dance, gently turning her around and pulling her into the comforting rhythm of their steps. She smiled against the leather of his jacket.

After a minute or so, a question occurred to her.

"So, to get this straight," Aliya began, "You're using your prior knowledge of the Time Agency to effectively con them." She and the Doctor had stopped dancing and both watched the con man for his answer.

"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money," Jack said, with slightly hopeful eyes.

Aliya cocked an eyebrow. "Alright then, why do you go to all the trouble?"

"Woke up one morning while I was still working for them – found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back," The American replied flatly, "Two years of my life…" The Doctor watched Jack with an unfathomable expression from where he had been silently sitting in the corner. "Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know, he's right not to."

His words hung in air while pity hung in Aliya's hearts. A person was the sum of their memories, and to not have all of the memories would make one incomplete. It was a horrifying thought.

* * *

><p>The Doctor turned to grin at Aliya as nanogenes swarmed around his hands.<p>

"You want moves, Ali? I'll give you moves." He said proudly before thrusting his hands forward, sending the sub-atomic robots flying through the air towards the rest of the Gas-Mask people. Immediately they crumbled to the ground, only to slowly get up, removing gas masks to reveal completely normal human faces. A grin unlike one Aliya had ever seen before stretched across his face, iridescent joy and triumph shining in his blue eyes. "Everybody lives, Ali…just this once, everybody lives!"

Aliya began to laugh with disbelieving relief and watched as he ran up to the people and gave some kind of explanation to the doctor amongst them. He then dashed back and leapt on top of the Chula ambulance, fiddling with the buttons and setting it to self-destruct.

"Setting this to self-destruct, as soon as everybody's clear," He said happily, "History says there was an explosion here – who am I to argue with history?"

Aliya just shot him a look. "I am _not _answering that question," She said flatly, and he grinned in a way that she was forced to grin back. A minute later, he jumped off and seized her hand before pulling her into a run, they fled from the bomb site with speed, hearing the explosion behind them. They kept running all the way through the London streets like hooligans until they finally came to the back alley where the TARDIS was parked. Breathing heavily and running on adrenaline, they stopped outside the TARDIS, breathless grins on their faces as the feeling of triumph, unhindered by the usual shadowing of death, swelled in their hearts.

Their eyes met and within seconds they were hugging fiercely, laughing for joy and basking in the knowledge that their own lives were safe, and that it wasn't just them. His hand grabbed hers and pulled her into the TARDIS, his mouth going off on another tangent.

"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off - because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help - ditto - all in all, all things considered - fantastic!" The Doctor said, beaming as he rambled on in the way she loved so much.

"I've never seen you this happy before," Aliya said softly, eyes wide with both surprise and adoration.

"Never had a day like this before, Ali, but by Rassilon, I need more of them," He said grandly, and by some combined effort, they were suddenly hugging again, her legs around his waist as they clung to each other. "Go on, ask me anything, I'm on _fire_!" Their faces were inches apart, her hair dangling in between the two of them, and suddenly Aliya's smile faded as she remembered a goodbye that had struck her hearts with surprising force.

"Doctor…Jack," She whispered, "We can save him. We _have _to."

The Doctor's clear blue eyes were solemn. "I know."

* * *

><p>Aliya stared over the Doctor's shoulder as she saw Jack's expression go from confusion to shock to elation when he saw their ship inside his own.<p>

"Come on in, Captain, there's room for one more," She called as she and the Doctor swayed to the gentle beat of the Glenn Miller song. Jack's face split into a grin as he quickly ran into the TARDIS, and they gave him time to adjust to the larger inside.

"Close the door, will you?" The Doctor said rudely, "Your ship's about to blow up, there's going to be a draft."

The song ended and the two Time Lords broke apart. The Doctor eyed Aliya's smirk with distaste.

"What's that look for?" He asked indignantly.

"Slow dancing gets boring. But I know for a fact that you can't do fast dancing!" Aliya chuckled at his offended expression before turning to Jack with hopeful eyes. "The Captain, however, is unspoken for…"

"Oh, believe me, I can," Jack said with a suggestive grin, "And nice ship…it's much bigger on the inside."

"You'd better be," The Doctor retorted, and Aliya grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him up onto the console platform before a testosterone war could break out. She flicked the button for the music as she went past but the music stopped after only a few seconds. Unsurprisingly, a frowning Doctor was seen at the scene of the crime.

"What now, Theta?" Aliya asked in a teasing voice, and the Doctor changed the track to a different fast one before grinning.

"I remember now, Ali…I can dance!" He said, approaching her with clicking fingers.

"Perhaps you haven't considered that I was offering Jack this dance?" Aliya said with eyes just begging for him to challenge her, dancing with that special kind of merriment that he knew was reserved just for him.

The Doctor looked completely unfazed by her words. "Doesn't matter," He said simply as he yanked her out of Jack's grip and pulled her into his new dance. Immediately disinterested in fighting, Aliya grinned fondly and her feet effortlessly fell into step with his as they danced around the console room with fast and complex footwork. Jack simply stood by and watched, laughing as he leaned on one of the pillars of coral.

The Doctor dipped Aliya back over his arm, drawing a squeal from her, before pulling her back up to face him just as the music stopped, their bodies suddenly flush against each other. He brought his hand up to her face and rested his forehead against hers in a gesture so strangely intimate that Jack wolf-whistled in the background. They remained like that for a while, eyes closed and aware of the other's mind in theirs, before slowly pulling away and grinning at each other.

After that, Jack got a turn with both of them before the group decided it was time to retire for the night. Tomorrow, the beginning of Jack's universal tour would begin.

"Doctor…" Aliya began to ask with newfound curiosity as the three of them began walking through the corridors of the TARDIS, "When you would pick up a new human, would the TARDIS simply make a new room for them immediately?"

"Of course," The man with the Northern accent replied. "Jack, you may have to search for yours, but you'll find it eventually. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Jack," Aliya said with a smile. She could tell that she was definitely going to enjoy having their new passenger on board.

"Night, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," He winked before heading off down one of the many corridors. The two Time Lords chuckled before making their way towards the Doctor's room. It was a little cleaner than it had been when Aliya had first entered it, all the clutter was in one corner now, and the floor was visible. They both kicked their shoes off and shed their jackets onto the top of the clutter pile.

Suddenly they seemed to be gravitating towards each other, a common thing for them. The Doctor took her face in his hands and stared down at her with love and joy, something that still made her hearts swell excitedly.

"Today was a good day," She said quietly, and he smiled.

"The best," He replied sincerely. They shared a smile so bright and genuinely happy that both of them felt deeply moved by it. With that, he leaned down and kissed her for the first time that day. Somehow their different personalities made it possible for their contradicting emotions to exist; the kiss was both gentle and fierce, passionate and chaste. The tender yet passionate side seemed to win out as hands began to roam across skin and bits of clothing were lifted and discarded.

It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

* * *

><p><strong>Hopefully this wasn't too fluffy...LOL. Hope you enjoyed it! *crosses fingers that Aliya's version of the episodes is actually interesting* <strong>

**Drop me a review to let me know what you thought, every review I get brightens my day considerably. :) **

**See you all when I update DS...**

**-MayFairy :) **


	8. Innuendos, Jack, and Dirty Talk

**Now, I don't usually post chapters this short, but I don't want to rush this story, this is the part where I can have as much Doctor/Aliya/Jack fun as I want, so I don't want to skip past any of it just to get to Boom Town faster. **

**Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter: kie1993, OptimisticLivvy, Lexy Summers, ZackAttack96, Mrs. 11th, toavoidconversation, readandwrite4evernever, Marmelatta, Taryn (your review reply is at the bottom of the chapter), Tipper dehavilland, fanfreak4ever! **

**11 reviews! Thanks so much guys, I love you all! **

**So enjoy what is pretty much a whole chapter of Jack being entertained by the Doctor and Aliya's relationship. :P **

**Warning: A LOT of sexual references. XD **

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><p>The TARDIS had landed in the middle of an alien market, and the two Time Lords and the newest addition to the crew, ex-time agent Jack Harkness, were quick to explore.<p>

"So...is this what you two do? Just travel the universe aimlessly and see everything?" Jack asked curiously as they inspected various wares on the hundreds of carts.

Aliya grinned at the Doctor, and adjusted her large floppy sunhat as she regarded the older man in leather. "Well, he's been doing it for centuries, I suppose I've just been dragged into it."

"But you love it just as much as I do," The Doctor said with his knowingly smug eyebrows.

"Of course," She stuck her tongue out and looked pleased with herself.

"Centuries, huh?" Jack repeated with an eyebrow arched with interest. "What species are you two, anyway? What's your longevity?"

The Doctor smirked and said something very brief in a dialect that Jack couldn't recognize. Aliya tried to fight back a light chuckle and lost, though shot him a reprimanding look. Appeased, the Doctor became serious once more.

"We're Time Lords," He said, and Jack froze momentarily. Whatever he had been expecting, it had not been that. "Heard of us?"

"Well, yeah, but you're a myth, a legend! You're telling me that you actually exist?" He asked incredulously. The Time Lady made a point of adjusting her green sundress so as to try and hide the obvious pain in her eyes. She wasn't successful.

"Please don't say it like that," She said quietly, "The Time Lords were very, very real and the whole universe should remember all that we ever did."

Jack processed her words and cottoned on to another piece of information. "Wait...so that Time War was real too? That kind of destruction...only Sontarans would enjoy that..."

"Think of the worst nightmare you've had, then add murder and pain and destruction along with millions of different cases of genocide, fire raging for decades...then multiply the horror of that by a thousand, and you might start to be able to imagine the idea of the Time War," The Doctor said darkly, watching Jack with his solemn and clear blue eyes.

"Okay...so you're an old soldier, I can kind of see that," Jack noted reasonably with a nod, "But not you, Aliya," His eyes fell on the blonde and she simply nodded slightly, "What's your deal?"

"I was..." Aliya frowned and Jack could visibly see her brain whirring and coming up short. She hesitated and the Doctor came to her aid.

"Think of the equivalent of getting sent to the countryside," The Doctor offered, and while Jack nodded, it was clear that Aliya didn't understand, and neither of them bothered to explain. "Except she was the only one, and I was the only one to make it out of that war alive. We're the only ones left now."

Jack eyed the two people in front of him. They were polar opposites. A man who occasionally looked as though he carried the weight of the universe in his eyes, who wore dark leather and kept his hair short. And then there was the blonde who always had a comeback, however smart or pathetic, who dressed like her fashion sense changed everyday and acted as though she had just been released out of jail.

As expectations of the last of the Time Lords went, these two weren't really what one would expect. But Jack had known them for less than 48 hours and already knew that he wouldn't change a thing about them.

There was still a question in his mind, though.

"Okay...but if she was sent away, why wasn't anyone else?" Jack's question was met with a shared look.

"Everyone was needed for the war. Someone saved me," Aliya finally said as she pointedly looked at the flowers in the cart in front of her, "Or tried to kill me. Completely illegally, of course, but whoever did it is the reason I am standing in front of you instead of dead or in a Time Lock."

"Tried to kill you?" Jack looked curious and folded his arms over his plain white fitted t-shirt.

"Let's just say that my 'countryside', as you call it, was not a very pleasant or safe place. The intention are unclear, but I'm grateful nonetheless," Aliya shrugged and purchased a flower before tucking it behind Jack's ear.

He wasn't in the mood for flowers in that moment. He was still thirsting for answers.

"But what about the children?" Jack demanded. "You must have evacuated the children!" When Aliya didn't answer, he turned on the Doctor.

"The Council argued about it, and the Lady President voted against it, but she was overruled," The Doctor explained grudgingly, "Our children were too clever, too useful."

"You let innocent children die?"

The Doctor looked slightly angry, and Aliya touched his arm gently, which saw him calm down before answering. "It wasn't my decision. I never said the Time Lords were noble or kind. Just too smart for their own good and too used to power. That was a dangerous thing when our enemies took it away from them."

Jack was about to reply when Aliya cut him off.

"Can we stop talking about this, please?" She snapped, her voice wavering slightly. "It's still kind of a fresh wound."

"Sorry, yeah, of course," Jack said quickly, suddenly realizing just how forward he was being, asking them questions about what was probably the darkest time of their past. "But what about your language? Can I hear it?"

Aliya smiled and spoke in a beautiful, lilting tongue that sounded slightly Celtic. When she was done, she grinned at him again, though the Doctor did not look too pleased by whatever she had said.

"I just told you that you're handsome and funny," She translated. Jack grinned.

"Well, I tend to have that effect," He joked, and she laughed.

"You think you're funny, Aliyanadevoralundar?" The Doctor asked, and Jack sensed a slight hint of possession in his tone. The Time Lord spoke in the language, Gallifreyan, Jack recalled, and while he was only talking for about ten seconds, Aliya dropped the vase she had been holding in her hands. It fell to the floor with a crash and a bird-faced vendor started yapping at them angrily.

The blonde quickly shoved some money at it, her hands shaking ever so slightly, her cheeks a little flushed. She turned to regard the Doctor with an unfathomable expression. Although confused, Jack found the whole thing strangely hilarious.

"We're in public," She hissed, and this made the Doctor look more pleased with himself.

"And no one can understand what we're saying because the TARDIS doesn't translate Gallifreyan," He grinned at her smugly.

"Can I ask what he said?" Jack put in, and Aliya turned bright red.

"No, I can not repeat what he just said, and I wouldn't even know to translate all of it into English..." Aliya said adamantly.

"Why not?"

"She's right, it's not exactly fit for public ears." The man in leather was smirking at his other half, who seemed angry but not quite, as if there was something Jack was missing. "Sort of...private."

"That's not much of an answer."

The Doctor grinned again, a glint in his eyes as he regarded Jack. "It was filthy."

Jack thought that his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets as he realized the other man's implications. "Oh!" He laughed appreciatively. "Didn't think you had it in you, Doctor."

"She needed reminding what would happen if she took too much interest in pretty boys," The Doctor said as if it were completely justified.

"Could have reminded me later," Aliya muttered.

"That a promise, Ali?" The Doctor's taunt was met by a rude hand gesture from the woman being teased. Suddenly it seemed that she changed her mind and her eyes narrowed slightly and a torrent of words flew out of her mouth, and Jack could tell by looking between the two of then that hers was just as dirty as his, if not more so.

The Doctor's eyes visibly darkened and he shot Aliya a warning look. She simply moved away from Jack and approached her kindred with a satisfied grin on her face. He watched her with narrowed eyes.

"Don't tempt me," He said in a low tone, but she simply stretched up to kiss him fleetingly and then jumped backwards before his hands could grab her. "Do you really want to start this?"

"Of course!" Aliya retorted as she sidled before Jack and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Because now I have Jack to protect me!" The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the third member of the group, who slowly grinned at him.

"Tag team?" He offered, and the Time Lord's face split into a grin as he nodded. Aliya, not understanding the term, did not guess the meaning of it before Jack reached behind him and scooped her up bridal style.

"Jack! I thought you would be on my side!" Aliya grumbled as she was transferred to the Doctor, being carried like a child through the market while she wriggled fruitlessly.

"Bros before hoes, Ali, sorry..."

"I don't know what any of those words mean, Jack, that's not fair! And you, Doctor, stop laughing at me or I will withhold sex for a month linear time."

The Doctor immediately sobered and she smirked triumphantly while Jack looked between the two of them and proceeded to figuratively laugh his pants off.

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><p>"You know, I think I'm going to call your bluff."<p>

Aliya raised an eyebrow without turning around and flicked her eyes to the mirror where she saw the Doctor standing at the corner of the area of the wardrobe she was in. Clothed in only undergarments on her top half and small denim shorts on the bottom half, she would have felt bare in front of everyone else, but being shy with someone she shared a bed with would hardly be logical.

"Call my bluff on what?" She asked tentatively before reaching for a nearby t-shirt. Before she could pull it on, he had crossed over to her and snatched it out of her hands. Perhaps she would have noticed it falling to the floor at their feet if she hadn't gotten distracted by the look in his eyes that she knew only too well.

"You couldn't go a month without me any more than I could without you," His hungry blue eyes stared down at her as they gravitated towards each other, coming closer and closer but not touching, stuck in a game of cat and mouse where neither knew who was which animal.

He grabbed her wrist to stop her hand, which had been reaching out to touch his face, and they stood there, both staring at the one point where they had finally made contact. The block didn't put her off, she merely tried again with the other hand, only to have that one halted in a similar away.

But Aliya wasn't one to back down easily, and she turned his own moves against him as she leapt at him, using his arms as leverage to leave the ground behind. In one quick second, her knees were locked around his hips and their faces and chests were a mere few torturous inches from touching.

"Your move, soldier," She whispered, and felt his arms wind around her tightly, pressing her flush against him. The tiniest movement on her part could have brought their lips together by that point but she remained still as she locked eyes with him once more. His right hand began to slide along her exposed thigh in obvious invitation, and she dipped her head the half a centimeter it needed to seal her actions with a kiss.

Within seconds her bra was unhooked and she grinned against his lips as her own hands did their best to throw his leather jacket on the floor. His response was to walk them into a dressing stall of the wardrobe and press her back against one of the walls.

They didn't bother to pull the curtains shut.

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><p>Several days later, Jack was fixing himself some coffee in one of the many TARDIS kitchens when a Time Lady wearing nothing but a long bed shirt burst through the doors and raced to the other side of the room. A few seconds later, the Doctor followed, looking half-naked himself without his signature jacket.<p>

"Alright, you win this time," He grumbled, "But you cheated."

Aliya made a point of batting her eyelashes innocently. "Cheat? I did no such thing."

"You undid my pants!" He argued, and Jack looked between them before laughing heartily. Aliya joined in and began walking back to the main kitchen area.

"Hm, yes, your fly is still undone, Theta," She giggled a little as she went past, and he hastily remedied the situation, looking irritated. "Hot chocolate?"

"Tea, thanks," The Doctor corrected, and she shrugged.

"Then that's your own problem, I don't know how to make anything but hot chocolate."

"What kind of rubbish wife are you?"

"Wait, you two are married?" Jack's question made them all stop, the two aliens staring at him with confusion as they took in his obvious surprise.

"Yes, in a Time Lord sense," Aliya said with a small nod, wondering how he hadn't realized earlier, "We have a mental bond."

Jack looked impressed. "So, you can read each other's minds?"

"It's not that simple. It takes a lot of effort, and we need to be touching," The Doctor crossed his arms as he leant against the kitchen counter.

"Unless it's an emergency, in which case we can use a lot more of our mental power, but broadcast it across a distance, sometimes even time, according to legend," Aliya added, "But we haven't tried it yet, because it's exhausting and frankly, being separated is boring."

"By that comment, I'm going to assume that you haven't been married long," Jack smirked, and they both laughed a little.

"No, we haven't, we're still very much in the honeymoon stage," Aliya said as she shot a warm smile at the Doctor before walking past him with her hot chocolate and sitting down at the dining table by herself. "We'd probably be a more…private, but it's not as if you mind."

"Mind? I enjoy knowing details of your sex life," Jack agreed, and Aliya snorted into her mug before composing herself and sipping it slowly.

The Doctor frowned as he looked between them. "Well, you're not getting too many details, Captain."

"Of course he isn't, you know that I find it repulsive to talk about intimate acts like that, it cheapens them," Aliya nodded, resulting in Jack to raising his eyebrow questioningly.

"That's not what it seemed like at the market place the other week," He pointed out only for Aliya to shake her head quickly.

"But I was getting angry at him…plus, it's my native language and no one could understand what we were saying. I could never do it in English," She shuddered visibly.

"So you don't talk dirty to each other?"

The Doctor grabbed his cup of tea and sat down opposite his fellow Time Lord, sighing. "Why are we having this discussion?"

"Have you considered, Jack, that perhaps he's simply _so good _that dirty talking isn't necessary?" Aliya's voice was quiet and suggestive as she trained her different coloured eyes on him with a large smirk.

Jack, however, wasn't fazed for a moment. "And have you considered, Ali, just how sinful his gorgeous Northern accent could make those kinds of words?" Immediately, her cheeks flushed a bright pink as she imagined exactly what he was describing, and her cheeks only got hotter once she realized that she liked that fantasy. Quite a lot. The ex-Time Agent noticed this within seconds. "I thought so."

"I don't need sexual advice from you, Jack!" She snapped, glaring, and he chuckled. "And stop laughing at me!"

"You're being quite bossy for someone who isn't even wearing pants," Jack's smirk drove her to the limit and she stormed out, cursing under her breath.

The Doctor watched her go, and rolled his eyes before sighing. "Well thanks a lot, Captain, now you've pissed her off and I'm going to have to calm her down."

"Yeah, you are," Jack said, innuendo laced through his tone, "Try some of that dirty talk this time, I bet she'd go for it." The Time Lord just rolled his eyes again and looked away. "Oh, come on, Doctor! Someone who talks as much as you and has an ego as big as yours-"

"You're a fine one to talk about egos."

"-but someone like you…talking has to be something you're into, am I right?"

"Maybe," The Doctor avoided his eyes and got up from the table before making for the door, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a wife to diffuse."

"Oh, I know!"

**So hopefully that was kind of fun and a nice change of pace from that dark Dalek arc in the new DS chapter that I put up yesterday. I had a lot of fun writing this, but hopefully I got Jack in character, because he is so hilarious! :) **

**Reviews would be an amazing late birthday present? (I am sixteen now, WOOP!) **

**-MayFairy :) **

****Anonymous Review Replies:

_Taryn - _Thanks so much for such a nice review! No, there isn't enough Ninth Doctor fic out there considering how awesome he is, and so much of it is just Nine/Rose centered, so it's nice to have something different. And while I may not hate Rose (though I do have my days), she does get on my nerves quite a lot. She'll pop up now and again, but she isn't going to become a companion at any point, don't worry. It's nice to know that you love Aliya, though! This is actually just an AU companion story, you should check out the main story, Deafening Silence, which has Eleven instead of Nine, but it's quite different because their relationship is much more complicated due to River and stuff. :) It gets a lot more priority than this too.


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